Horrors at Cranning House
by Mr.Zeze
Summary: A Dumping Ground holiday story. Everyone including Tracy are expecting a luxurious holiday in a house called "Cranning House". But all is not as it seems. Why is there a dead man on the road, and why does a room burst into flames. And what's up with the msyterious Summon Room? It's up to the Dumping Ground to find out how to get out of this house before they all get sacrificed!
1. Plans

**Hey** **guys new story here. I started writing this in about late June 2012. in this sotry, Tracy Beaker is here, she hasn't left the Dumping Ground. Sapphire and Cam come in as guests, but Sapphire doesn't live at Elm Tree House. Gina doesn't come on this holiday. Please tell me what you think.**

**Please please if you've just come across this story right now, don't review just the last chapter only. Review every chapter from the beginning please please.**

"Everyone!" Tracy Beaker shouted. "In the living room, now! We have to discuss the holiday plans for summer."

It was July 2012, and The Dumping Ground was preparing for one of its finest summer holidays. All the kids had finished school, so they were all anticipating what the care workers had sorted out for them.

As for Tracy Beaker, she had volunteered to go on the vacation with the care home. Cam was off on her own, abroad in Russia.

"Come with me," Cam had urged her. "It's about time you joined me to trek parts of the world for my research and reports. It might do you good for once, Tracy."

"No thanks," Tracy said. "I couldn't go on holiday with you. No one goes on holiday with their mum when they're 22. I might be a burden to you while you're sitting there mumbling about the Bolshevids."

"Bolsheviks," corrected Cam. She was going to Russia to research the different causes of the Russian Revolution. "You're probably right; I wouldn't want to drag you all the way to Eastern Europe to bore you out of your life."

Cam was only half-right. The true reason to why Tracy wanted to go with the Dumping Ground was because she didn't want to be alone. A lot of other people surrounding her would make her feel a lot more comfortable. If it was just her and Cam, then she would feel plain and empty.

Now all the kids were gathered in the room, eager to hear what Tracy and Mike were going to say. The buzz of excitement was in the air as the kids grilled Tracy, Gina and Mike with questions.

"Are we going to America?" asked Tee.

"Will there be a swimming pool?" inquired Lily.

"Do we have to share the holiday with anyone else?" questioned Gus.

"Everyone, there's no need for questions," said Mike. "Tracy and I will explain everything. Sit down, people." The kids obeyed as they waited to hear the facts.

"Right," announced Tracy. "As all of you have finished school at the moment, and there's nothing else to stop us from going here, we've already booked our place for the 31st of July. That's in 21 days, it will be a Tuesday."

Mike said, "The place is called Cranning House. Now don't be disheartened guys, it is a holiday resort and we've seen the pictures."

"It's gonna be great," added Tracy.

"And very cheap, since it's in the South of England," mentioned Gina.

"It will be better than last year," said Mike. "It's not an emergency placement."

Johnny said to Tee, loud enough for everybody to hear, "Don't let out the sheep in this place, I'm warning you."

Tracy heard this and said in a matter-of-face tone, "It's in an exotic area, not a farmhouse."

"What does this place look like?" asked Gus.

Mike took out several photos and handed them around. Everyone looked at the magnificent pictures of the urban house, complete with inside luxuries and activated that the place offered.

"But Mike," said Carmen. "It says here that there are four bedrooms. How would that fit all of us?"

"Well, 10 of us can easily share the bedroom, see what they look like? They're big enough for all your things to go in."

Elektra butted in. "But last year, Gina packed away a lot of stuff. Surely there's not gonna be enough space for everything she's taking."

"Oh, that's been sorted," said Tracy. "Gina?"

"Well guys," said Gina, about to explain her bit. "This year I'm not going on holiday with the care home. I'm actually spending the summer with my husband."

"Great," said Lily. "More room for everyone else then. I mean, a lot more space."

"Watch it, you," Gina warned.

"Everyone," said Mike. "We're going to go to this place by the van, and a taxi will take us to Cranning House."

Tracy added, "Gina's only coming so she could drive the van back. And then, it'll be just us."

"So make sure you take everything you need with you," said Gina.

Everyone was preparing to get their stuff for the trip in three weeks, but how would the holiday turn out?

**What do you think is going to happen?**


	2. Drury Park Close

**Hi. Just a quick update. I'm trying to type as much as I can. It is September after all!**

**AbbieCole: Thank you. I'm so glad you're reading my stories.**

* * *

**31 July 2012**

"OK, come on, everyone," called Mike, waiting near the van door." We have space for a few extras now, come along."

The newcomers on the trip were Sapphire and Cam, Cam's trip was over in Russia where her hotel was attacked by a suspicious gas leak. Sapphire has come for old times' sake.

"That's good news," said Mike to Cam. "We actually take 3 staff when we're on vacation; you just came at the right time."

"Oh, I wouldn't know about staff," mentioned Cam. "More like, a helper."

Everyone was in the van now. The kids: Johnny, Gus, Carmen, Lily, Tee, Rick, Jody, Sapphire and Elektra. And the staff: Tracy, Cam, Mike and Gina. Mike was driving, and Gina would take over once they'd reached Drury Park Close.

As the journey commenced, Mike explained everything. "I'm driving all the way to Drury Park close; it's a road down South. I called a taxi and it should meet us there. Gina will take the van back to Elm Tree and the taxi will take us to the house. It's a BIG taxi guys, it won't be cramped in there."

Gus said, "We're in North East England, and Cranning House is in the South. How will we get there quick enough for us to have lunch?"

Tracy answered, "We're not going straight there. We're going to stop a few times at drop-off points."

"A few times?" echoed Jody.

"Yes, it will be a long journey, that's why I made you pack up food for now. We wouldn't arrive at this house until, say, 6PM."

That surprised everyone. They didn't know that it would take all day to go to this holiday resort. To keep everyone busy, Tracy started a game of Car Geography. At the same time, she was in a conversation with Cam, stating that this was the first Dumping Ground holiday that Cam had taken in years.

* * *

After a few lunch breaks and toilet stops, Mike stopped the van at Drury Park close. This was a dark area closed by forests on either side of the road. It seemed the sort of idyllic place for fox-hunters, except there didn't seem to be any sound coming from anywhere.

Everyone departed from the van, except for Gina, who moved to the driver seat.

"This the place, yeah?"

"I'm not sure…" Mike murmured. "There's a landmark over there, I think it's where the taxist said he'd be."

"Right," said Elektra. "So, the mad taxi-man is gonna collect us in a quiet corner where he can kill us all and no one knows where we are."

"Shut up, Elektra, you're scaring the little ones," warned Sapphire.

Mike wasn't too convinced of the scene. "Hmm, a strange place to pick people up, it must be right, this is Drury Park Close."

A few minutes later, Gina drove the van back home and left everyone else stranded. Then it started to pour.

"Oh no, it's meant to be summer and I didn't bring any umbrellas," said Cam.

"Where's the stupid taxi?" grumbled Tracy. Everyone was getting agitated for having waited so long for someone that never appeared.

"What a waste of time!" went Carmen. "There's no sign of it."

**Please tell me what yo uthought of this chapter. Seriously.**


	3. In the Taxi

**AbbieCole: Thank you so much! You can have a magic muffin for your review!**

* * *

**Chapter 3: In the taxi**

Just when everyone thought that their hopes were gone, the rain stopped. And the taxi came. Mike was right. It was a big taxi, large enough to fit everyone. The boot also had enough space for their belongings.

"You're a bit late," Tracy said to the man who came out of the taxi. He was a strange being. He had grey hair and he was wearing a dark suit that seemed to represent the day's outcome. His face was old and hid eyes were warm, but sinister at the same time.

"Well there was bad weather while I had to come to this place," he said. "You can't expect me to be 100% punctual."

"You do when there are kids waiting in the rain," said Sapphire.

"Sapphire!" said Mike. To the man, he said, "At least you're here now. Can we get in?"

"Sure," said the man. "I'm Mr Morgue, by the way. I'll drive you to Cranning House. I'm a friend of the owner. I hope you enjoy your stay."

Creepy name, Tracy thought. But she helped load everyone's bag into the boot.

The taxi was more cramped than the van. Everyone found it hard to move around, despite the capacity it held.

Tee said, "Tracy, how long is the journey? I can't feel my legs."

"I don't know," replied Tracy. "We should be there soon. Here have a packet of polos."

Tracy turned to Cam. "So, are you thinking that your trip to Russia could have been much better than this?"

"Yes now. We've been caught up in the rain even before we even went to the house. Well I hope it's worth it, I haven't got another writer's meeting until August."

At the back of the taxi, Gus was talking to Jody. "The weather report today said that it would stay sunny for the rest of the month. So far, we've had rain and wind."

"It better be hot later on, I ain't never been on holiday. My mum and brothers never took me out any time. They're all so stupid."

"So what did you do when it was summer?"

Jody replied, "Nothing. Last time, Mum took us all to her brother's house and spent the whole day drinking. They locked me in a bedroom the whole time."

Jody stopped talking to look out of the window. "No! It's started raining again."

She was right. It seemed as if someone threw a bucket of water against the taxi windows. This wasn't the best way to begin the vacation.

"We're here now!" called Mr Morgue, stopping the taxi. Everyone got out, looking at the whereabouts. But no one moved to unload their belongings. They were too busy looking at their campsite.

**OK, what do you think of this. :')**


	4. Stranded

**Binnie-Bunny: Thanks**

**AbbieCole: Aww why don't you like the short stories that I wrote? :( Thanks anyway, and here's chapter 4 for you. I think it's that last one I'm typing up today. Whoa, I've been typing for long.**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Stranded**

The house was the most menacing they had seen. About the same size as The Dumping Ground, its bricks were peeling with the dry cement clung between them. This looked no holiday resort. The house sign was engraved on the top of the windows: _Cranning House_.

"Are you sure that this is the right house?" asked Tracy.

"It sure is. Cranning House," said the odd man.

"That does not look like the photos we saw in the brochure," said Cam.

"Oh, but it is," said the man. "Of course we wouldn't send photos of how the real house looked like, otherwise no one would come. All the activities are inside."

"I want to go home," said Carmen. "This doesn't look like the place people go to for holiday."

"Wait kids," called Mike. He turned to Mr Morgue. "Everyone was expecting a luxury place for our holiday and this obviously isn't it. We want a refund so that we can go to a proper place."

"It's too late for that," replied Mr Morgue. "You've already here in this terrible weather, and my taxi only has a few more gallons of petrol to take me back to my home. So you're on your own here."

Tracy said, "Hold on. We'll stay in this house for a while until we can get a ride back. This man," she said indignantly, "isn't going to take us back."

"No way," said Sapphire.

"OK, listen to Tracy everyone," said Mike. "Get all your things out of the taxi."

Everyone reluctantly took their stuff, and when they had finished, the man instantly rode off, leaving everyone stranded at the steps of Cranning House.

"Do you think anyone's in?" Lily asked Tracy.

"Of course; the lights are on." What they didn't know was that someone was watching them all from across the street.

Mike knocked on the door, and a man with gentle manners opened. He looked kind enough, so Mike approached him with a profuse tone.

"Hi, I'm Mike Milligan from Elm Tree House. We booked a holiday here and…"

"Oh, I know, Chives and I have been expecting you. Come on in."

"But we were wondering why this doesn't look anything like it did in the leaflet."

The man replied, "This _is_ Cranning House. The place you booked. I'm Mr Parker, the owner. Everyone, come inside."

Tracy and Gus were the last people to enter. Gus looked behind him one last time.

"Hey, who's that man?"

Tracy looked back and saw that from across the street, a man was watching them. He was really old and had green eyes that shimmered as he glared. But the horrific thing that Tracy noticed was that he had a noose secures around his neck and that he was a few feet away from the ground.

"Whoa!" Tracy gasped. She nudged Cam. "See that cobbler over there! We have to save him! I think he's hung himself."

Cam looked into the emptiness. "Tracy, there's no one there. Are you trying to make this place stranger than it already is?"

Tracy and Gus looked back into the wilderness and saw that there actually wasn't a man there. "I swear…"

Gus wrote something into his notebook and both of them went into the house.

**Tell me how it was, pwease,**


	5. Dinner

**I'm back. thanks guys who reviewed the last 4 chapters, especially AbbieCole.**

**And the guest reviewer "help" yeah I've got some ideas for the horrors that are to happen. They'll come soon. Can I know who you are, I mean your real account if you want to help me with anything in this story? I'll give you credit as well.**

**I need more followers in this story.**

The inside of the house was an unexpected vision. The place looked as if it had some work done on it, and it looked like the photographs in the brochure.

Maybe we were wrong about the place, thought Tracy. But she was still thinking of the suspended old man.

"Is anyone hungry?" asked the owner. "Come to this room."

Everyone was hungry and so they went to the dining room. Except for Tracy, who stayed in the hall. She was looking at the photographs on the wall. One of them seemed odd. It was of an old lady with her hand on her throat. The caption said that her name was Lily.

Without any warning, the photo came alive. Tracy watched, wondering if it were real.

Lily looked as if she was getting choked. She screamed "No grapes! No more", and immediately stopped moving. Tracy hurried off to the diner, wondering what Lily meant

Everyone was seated in the long table, and Mr Parker was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's the owner?" Tracy asked.

"He's off to the kitchen, getting our food," replied Mike.

Tracy left and stood outside the kitchen door. She saw two men in there, Mr Parker and another dim figure. He was wearing a black suit and white gloves. They were both talking.

Mr Parker said "So I don't know how we're going to do it tonight. We need all the young ones for the Summon. I think that the grapes can make some of them sleep a bit early."

"Let them not be too suspicious of us," said the other man. "They thought that they came here for a holiday. That was clever, when you rigged the taxi. They never saw that coming."

Tracy found herself if an awkward spot. What were these guys talking about? Rigging the taxi? The Summon? She had to do something. Tracy went inside the kitchen and hid in a place where the men's backs were turned to her.

She heard Mr Parker talking. "Chives, you take these to them, and I'll prepare the fruit basket. It'll have the grapes ready."

When Chives left, Tracy remembered the words of lily. "Not grapes!" And she had her hands to her throat. Was she choking?

Mr Parker finished the fruit basket. As soon as he turned away, Tracy instantly got out all the grapes. She knew that they would bring danger to everyone. Then she sneaked back into the diner.

Chives was there. He saw Tracy come in.

"I'm Chives, the butler. Help yourself to dinner."

Tracy say down between Mike and Rick, and everyone was eating the food that Chives had brought.

Tracy didn't eat anything. She turned to Mike. "Mike! There's something wrong with this place. I heard the owner talking. This place isn't safe."

Mike looked at Tracy with transfixed eyes. "What do you mean Tracy? This place is wonderful. I'm glad we picked it."

Tracy looked at everyone else. They all seemed to be under a spell. She realised that it must have been the food. She turned to Rick. "Rick, what do you think of this place?"

Rick said, "I like this place. Best holiday I've been to."

Just then, Mr Parker came with the fruit basket. Tracy hoped that the grapes weren't inside. She opened the top and thankfully, there weren't any.

Mr Parker looked annoyed at this. Everyone reached out their hand for the fruits. The moment they had, they seemed to be normal again.

"What just happened?" asked Jody.

"There's something weird about this place," said Tracy. "We need to get out of here."

**Do you think it's scary so far?**


	6. First Horror: Window shock

**Thanks AbbieCole for your review. And I wouldn't know what I'd do without your reviews... Here's chapter 6.**

Everyone was in the living room. "My phone's not working," said Mike. "It's totally gone!"

The others checked their phones.

"Wow," said Tracy. "You're right. Not only is there no signal, but everything's dead. I can't make a call."

"So are we gonna stay the night?" enquired Carmen. "Cos I don't mind this place."

"Nor do I," said Tee.

"Or I," said Lily.

How could they be enjoying themselves? Thought Tracy. By the looks of things, they weren't in the right place. Staying there might draw them to danger.

Cam articulated, "Why don't we all stay then? This place seems okay for a sordid old house. There have been no complaints from either of you."

"Except me," grumbled Tracy.

"Can we explore the house?" asked Johnny.

"Sure," Mike riposted. "It's what you're here for. I'll come with you."

Gus and Rick also left with Johnny to check parts of the house.

Lily, Carmen, Tee and Jody wanted to tour the house. "Ah, I'm coming with you," said Tracy. She knew that all was not as it seemed, and there could be dangerous consequences. The four vacated the room, leaving Cam with Sapphire and Elektra.

"Looks like you're stuck with me," remarked Cam.

* * *

Tracy decided to tell her group what she heard. "…and after that, I heard Chives, the butler and Mr Parker talking the Summon room. He was trying to poison us."

"Tracy," stopped Carmen. "Your story sounds daft. How could a painting come to life?"

"And why would they invite us here so they could poison us?" added Lily.

"Well, I've got a bad feeling about this place," said Jody. Everyone turned to her. "When I was really young, my mum told me these stories. About these people who take your soul. They invite you in and try to capture your spirit. They especially need little kids because it makes them stronger. My mum used to scare me by saying that if I was bad; she'll send me to a place like that."

Tee tried to comfort Jody. "Try to forget about what your mum said. I don't know why she'd be so horrible to you."

Tracy saw a room ahead with no sign. I have to find out what's the mystery about this house, she thought.

"Everyone, come through this door."

Tracy thrust the door open but all were bowled over to see what was inside. And that was absolutely nothing.

"Why would they leave this room empty?" wondered Carmen. The only thing that everyone spotted in the room was a window. They all stepped in to look around.

"Maybe there's a secret passage in the walls," put forward Jody.

"I'll check," Carmen, lily and Tee said simultaneously, wonderingly tapping the walls.

Tracy, however, decided to look outside. "I didn't know it was so dark outside," she said out loud. She looked past the glass window and saw a squall vigorously slamming against a tree. And there was something else, hiding under the forest…

"Girls? Come around here for a minute. Can you see that?"

Carmen, Lily, tee and Jody stopped what they were doing and joined Tracy.

"What do you mean?" said Lily.

"I think there's someone under there." Tracy indicated with her finger.

Everyone looked at the direction she was pointing at. Sure enough, there was something there. 2 green glows beneath a tree, and a figure was blowing against the wind.

There was an abrupt flicker of lightning and everyone clearly saw what was concealed in the murk.

It was a man, venerable, back against the tree-trunk, obviously not moving because his noosed neck was suspending him into the air. His green eyes were dead to the world, but to Tracy and the girls, it felt as if they were watching them through the window.

Everyone let out a yelp and instantly left that room.

"That man's dead!"

"But he was looking at us!"

"This place is scary now!"

"Told ya!"

"I saw that man before, I did!" cried Tracy.

"What?" the others said.

"Right before we entered this house, me and Gus saw that man outside. He creeped me out cos he was dead. I don't know why he's still out there!" Tracy wiped perspiration off her brow.

"Tracy!" Carmen called. "What you said before, I believe you now. This place is cursed!"

"We have to warn the others," said Tracy. "Where are they all now?"

**Was that scary enough? It took me long to write.**


	7. Second Horror: Fire Demon

**Thanks AbbieCole, once again. Can you tell me which bits you liked and stuff? And what could be better?**

* * *

"This is the room that you three will be staying in," said Mike to Johnny, Rick and Gus.

The place they were in was quite different from the other rooms. For one, it was longer and it had 3 beds in it.

"What are those?" asked Gus, pointing at the window.

Everyone stepped a bit closer. There were some candles on the mantelpiece. But the flames were too large. It looked as if something was resting on the candles.

"This looks a bit—" Mike picked up one of the candles. He looked down and saw that the flames had faces. It was a fire demon he was looking at!

The demon suddenly surged up to Mike's face and burned his nose.

"Ow!"

The fire demon suddenly grew wider and it enveloped the windows. The flames spread to surround the room as the boys just watched.

Mike, still holding onto his nose, watched as the room they were in was getting hot. He let go and looked down at his hands, which were covered with blood that had dripped from his nose.

"How are we gonna get out of here?" said Johnny.

They looked around saw that every exit of the room was sealed by flares. They couldn't escape, especially as the temperature was exceeding quite quickly.

"It's too hot! Too hot!" Gus screamed, at once, dropping to the floor and covering his face with his arms.

"Guys," said Mike. "We need to think of something to get out of here! Surely someone can hear us."

"I've got it!" said Rick. He ripped off the shirt he was wearing.

"What are you doing?" said Johnny. "We have no time to make ourselves warm with this heat."

"No, I think it'll work," Rick answered. "That flame is a sort of demon. If I put my shirt on the fire, then maybe all the fire will transform to my shirt."

Cautiously, Rick held out his shirt and walked over to where the door was. He allowed one flame to lick the cuff. When he did, he let the shirt drop to the ground. And as if by magic, the flares transported their way from each edge of the room into Rick's shirt.

Mike, Johnny and Rick, with bated breath, looked on as the Fire Demon was shrinking in Rick's shirt. It finally disappeared, leaving the shirt all charred and ragged. Rick didn't hesitate to pick it up.

"I can't wear this anymore." He turned to Mike. Mike's nose was singed and it was still bleeding.

Gus stopped rocking and got up. "I've got some tissues. How come a fire started from that one candle?"

Mike spoke while rubbing the tissues on his nose. "This place isn't safe. Nor is it normal. Everyone has to get out of here." He looked at Rick who didn't have a shirt on. "I'll give you my jumper. You did save us from that fire."

**I know it's shorter than the last but anyway... what's your verdict?**


	8. Oz

**Thanks guys. I was just typing up this chapter when I saw the reviews.**

**AbbieCole: Your review made me laugh. Not in a rude sort of way that makes you embarrassed. I mean a good sort of way. Really, nothing to change?**

**Linneagb: Yay! You added this story to your favourites.**

* * *

"OK girls," said Cam. "Let's see which room we're going to stay in."

Sapphire and Elektra followed her into a hall. The hall was dark like other parts of the house and had curved windows to show the view of outside and above. Cam looked up and saw the rain beating down.

Elektra saw a closet door to the side. Wondering what was inside, she opened it. She heard a noise coming from inside. A sort of tapping.

"Cam?" she called. "There's something in here."

Cam and Sapphire looked back and saw Elektra with her head in the closet.

"Are you sure it's not the rain?" Cam asked. "It has been making funny noises."

"No, I actually think there's something in here. It's too dark to see." Elektra opened the door wider, but Sapphire pushed her out of the way.

"Let me look." She stepped forward but didn't realise that there were some stairs leading down. She slipped through the air all the way down.

"Oh my God!" Cam and Elektra heard Sapphire screaming as she crashed into the depths o f the room.

"Hey, we need to get her out of there! Sapphire!" Elektra frantically tried to see where she had fallen.

"It's too dark," said Cam. "We can't see her."

Sapphire lay on the ground of the room that she had stumbled into. She saw that a light was illuminating the stairs that she had fallen down. She thought that it was Cam and Elektra.

"You two, I've hurt my leg. You need to come down and help me out of here."

Cam heard and instructed, "OK Sapphire, but shine your torch towards us, we can't really see you."

"What torch?" said Sapphire. "I don't have one."

It was Elektra who realised where the light source was coming from. She pointed straight into the room.

"It's the thing that was making the tapping noise. It's someone! They're glowing!"

The thing was a shape. A white ghostly humanoid shape that was glowing and making the room brighter as it flew towards Sapphire.

Sapphire was terrified. "Oh, help guys! That ghost is gonna catch me!"

But Cam and Elektra did not know what to do. How were they to deal with a ghost at the bottom of the cellar? Sapphire continued to panic.

"Either you guys gotta help me out or I'll die of fright!"

Then the ghost muttered to Sapphire. It sounded something like "Thank you".

"What is that ghost doing to you?" Elektra shouted down into the room.

Sapphire could see the phantom clearer now. It was man's face, and it seemed to be 2D. It was as if it weren't a real person.

"Urm, did you just say thank you?" questioned Sapphire.

"You opened the door, and I'm not trapped anymore," replied the gaunt face. "I'll get you out of here."

"Sapphire, are you talking to it?" Cam called from above.

"I don't know," said Sapphire. "It's speaking weirdly."

The ghost suddenly lifted her from the bottom of the stairs. Cam and Elektra watched as Sapphire floated back to the door. They could only watch in astonishment.

"What are you?" asked Cam. She was looking directly at the ghost.

"I am Oz, the spirit. I used to be like you." The face was not exactly old, but was very white, due to years of missing light. "And you need to get out of here. I will help you, since you helped me to get out of that room."

"Technically, it was me," said Elektra. "I heard some tapping in that room and I decided to investigate."

"I fell in!" exclaimed Sapphire. "And now I have a bad leg. What do you mean we have to get out of here?"

"Beyond lies the curse of Cranning House," said the spirit. "You were not meant to come here at all."

"Oz? Care to explain the whole horror? I mean, are we actually talking to a ghost?" This was Cam, disbelieving the latest holiday she had come to.

"Not a g-ghost, but a spirit. Are you here on your own?"

The three looked at each other, and thought about the danger that they felt in the house.

"No," said Cam. "There's nine more of us."

"Then you HAVE to get them out. Every child is at peril!"

"What?" said Sapphire. "Why child?"

"The owners of this house," explained Oz, "are hunting for children. I'll explain everything when all of you are together!"

**O.C ideas? I don't need much, because I've got the character sorted, I just need a name for it. Male or female doesn't matter.**

**Name:**

**One characteristic:**

**Please do it, I need this character soon.**


	9. Spirits can hear

**AbbieCole: Ok I'll use your O.C soon, but it's a minor character that's not gonna appear much.**

* * *

Tracy, Carmen, Jody, Tee and Lily, minutes after leaving the room with no sign, were making their way back to the living room.

"We have to tell the others that this place isn't safe," explained Tracy. "Otherwise they'll be in danger."

"But Tracy, we haven't seen anything really scary," said Tee. "We just saw an old man on the roads. No ghosts of monsters."

"Hey you!" A voice suddenly crept up on them.

The girls screamed.

Mike appeared, with tissues around his nose. The boys were next to him, Rick wearing Mike's jumper.

"What happened to you lot?" Carmen asked, trying to peek between the openings of Mike's shirt that Rick was wearing.

"Fire demons," explained Gus. "With faces on them. They burned Mike's nose, and they destroyed Rick's shirt.

"I volunteered," added Rick. "They were gonna devour us, so I did the sane thing."

"Well we saw a ghost," said Tracy, looking at Tee to contradict her. "Out on the road. He hung himself, but he was looking at us."

"I want a proper holiday," said Johnny. "There was nothing in the brochure that said that we'll be staying in a haunted house."

"There was nothing in the brochure that was meant to bring you here at all," spoke a new voice.

All turned to see a spirit flying from the corner of the hallway.

"Whoa, what are you?" asked Jody.

Three figures emerged after it. Sapphire, Elektra and Cam.

"I am Oz, the spirit," said the ghost. "And I need to help you get out of here."

"All thanks to me I got help," said Elektra. "I freed him from the cellar."

Tracy took charge now. She pointed at Oz. "OK you. Tell us everything we need to know to get out of here safely."

Mike suggested, "The doors" The way we got in. It should be easy to get out."

"Not possible," said Oz, his face turning whiter. "For I know that they always lock their guests in."

"Oz?" spoke Cam. "Why don't you calmly tell all of us in the living room?"

* * *

Now everyone was seated in the sofas and chairs of the Cranning House living room.

Sapphire stuck her leg out because it was still injured, and Oz explained the tale of Cranning House:

"My story took place 26 years ago. I knocked on the door of this house late at night because I lost my car. A man invited me in. He said I could use the phone.

"So I came in. This place was a bit eerie. I saw the pictures moving. And the owner was whispering to the butler. They were keeping secrets from me. And then they offered food.

"I didn't realise it was poisoned. Only the grapes, though. Every time new guests come in this house, the grapes always make you go to sleep."

Tracy remembered what she had heard from Lily the painting. And she managed to stop everyone from eating the grapes. Oz continued.

"And then I woke up finally. I didn't know where I was, because I was drugged. The whole room was white. This was called the Summon Room. And I was tied down to some table. I can't remember what it was exactly, but, they were trying to kill me. I had really bad vision, so I couldn't see their faces. I don't think they even had faces.

"And then something went wrong."

Everyone waited for the height of the story.

"They cut my heart out with the knife. But they weren't satisfied. Because instead of just dying, my spirit came out of my body. And I floated away. Without my spirit, they couldn't use me for the Summoning. And this is my spirit now. They threw out my body since they had no use for it.

"Throughout the years, I've still been trying to get out of here, but it's harder than it looks. Spirits can't go through walls, which is why I was trapped in that basement."

"And so you're telling us that you don't know how to get out of here then?" asked Tracy.

"I never said that," replied Oz. "Spirits can't walk through walls, but they _can_ hear a lot." I've heard so many things that the owner wants to do, and that includes children.

"They were saying that my sacrifice turned out wrong because I was the wrong age. So they started looking for younger victims. And that's how they got to you."

"But how?" asked Mike. "We were meant to be a holiday. We weren't meant to arrive here, were we?"

"Well, last night, a phone call was made. Mr Parker arranged that you weren't meant to go to a holiday at all. This is just a trick. It was so you could bring a lot of chillun with you. And with all eight of the children here, they'll definitely succeed in their mission."

"Eight?" Tracy was confused. "We brought nine of our kids here."

Everyone looked around and saw that someone was missing.

"Where's Tee?" asked Johnny. "She was just here."

Tee Taylor was not in the room, no one had noticed while listening to Oz.

"You have to find her!" called Oz. "If they find her on her own, they could be sacrificing her right now!"

**Is his story good?**


	10. Third Horror: Losana

**Hi Guys sorry to keep you all in suspense. Linnéagb and AbbieCole, here's what happened to her.**

* * *

Tee Taylor shifted through the dark hallways of Cranning House. She had left the living room halfway through Oz's conversation. What was he talking about, the place being haunted? An old man in the road doesn't have to be a ghost. Anyway, it was quite fun to be exploring on your own.

Tee saw someone ahead of her. It was Mr Parker, the owner. Should she be scared? No, she shouldn't, because he was on his own, and he didn't look dangerous.

"Young lady, why aren't you in bed yet? You don't want to oversleep tomorrow morning for the day of fun, do you?"

"Well, no one is sleeping right now," replied Tee." I just decided to look around here."

There was a look of confusion in Mr Parker's face. "No one's sleeping? Then where are they?"

"They're all in the living room, talking to someone who I don't know."

"I'd better go and check on them then. And you don't want to go wandering off this way, it's strictly forbidden." Without hesitation, he walked past Tee in pursuit of everyone else.

A forbidden area of a holiday house? Tee thought. What could they be trying to hide? It doesn't matter. Rules were rules and Tee was one to obey them.

She turned to follow Mr Parker who was racing ahead in just a few seconds. But she heard a noise from the restricted area. Like an animal.

Mr Parker's not here to stop me anymore. I'll go." She turned the corner and noticed that there weren't any portraits on the walls, but there were more rooms beneath the steps. The noise didn't get any louder, but was merged with other sounds.

This area was much darker than the rest of the house, so Tee had to hold on to the wall to guide her way down the steps (there was no banister).

At the bottom of the stairs, there was a window leading to outside. It was nailed shut, but at least some light shone through it. Tee followed the path until she found two doors opposite each other. One was green and the other was white. The green one had a sign on it— Jungle room and the other one read the Summon Room. It also had a drawn image of an animal with horns.

"Let's look through here then," said Tee, advancing to the Jungle Room.

Inside, there was a woman in the bed. She wasn't sleeping, so when she saw Tee she shouted at her.

"Get out! Who are you anyway?"

And with that, some plants started to grow from around the bed, directly from the floor.

Tee watched, as a white-haired man appeared from under the bed. The woman said something to him that Tee did not hear. He looked at Tee, and ripped off some of the plants that were growing.

"You!" He pointed at Tee. "Why did you come to Losana's room?"

"Who's Losana? I'm here on holiday."

"Losana is she!" The white-haired man picked up the woman from the bed. "Losana can't touch you if you enter her room. So get out so she can come out and catch you!"

Tee understood. This lady was some sort of witch. This sort of witch couldn't touch children who saw her before she saw them. And Losana was trying to get Tee out so she could reverse it and catch her.

How was she going to get out? If she left, then somehow Losana could catch her. But if she stayed, then she was trapped in a room with a witch and an evil man.

"Get out of these vines will strangle you!" The man grabbed the stems of the plants he was holding and constructed a sort of rope with it.

"Nomm!" called Losana. "Don't! We need them alive before the ceremony. Don't kill her before they get to her."

Tee saw some different plants growing near the door. Their petals were scrunched to make them look like faces. Tee got out a chewing gum bar and threw it at the plant. The plant tried to eat it but its petals got stuck to the gum. That's when Tee grabbed the plant and ran out with it.

"Now!" She heard Nomm call from inside. Tee had a way to stop the witch from getting her. Stretching the petals of the plant that was still stuck to the gum, she shoved it between the doorway and the door, and shut it. It made a sound like rubber being squashed and the door was now stuck.

Nomm and Losana couldn't open the door now.

Tee didn't care about that anymore, because another sound attracted her attention. It came from the Summon Room.

It sounded like a "baa".

And of course, Tee taylor couldn't resist avoiding a noise like that.

**What did you think?**


	11. The Fulk Circle

**Here's chapter 11. Oh AbbieCole, yeah there's something like sheep in the room, but not exactly sheep, you'll have to find out in chapter 12.**

* * *

Mr Parker was at the living room now, but there was no one else there. That girl told him they were all there. Or was she lying for them and trying to escape?

She had said that they were talking to someone. No other staff in Cranning House would be talking to the residents, so who had it been? This time it was essential to wake everyone up. All the evil in Cranning House will be alive to capture the kids and kill the interfering adults. No one is safe; there had never been a victorious escape from Cranning House.

Leaving the room, he waited to tell Chives to help him prepare the night because it was time.

* * *

Everyone was walking the halls.

"Everyone, we have to look for her together," Tracy announces. "We can't risk anything happening to us if we split up."

"She better not have gone to any rooms," said Oz. "Once, I went in and saw a face with snakes coming out of the eyeholes."

"That doesn't seem so scary," commented Elektra.

"It does when those snakes have the power of turning you into stone," Oz replied. "If that happens to the child we're looking for, then that's it. At least, if she's about to be sacrificed, we can manage to get her out alive. If she's set in stone, then there's nothing to do."

Everyone pondered for a minute.

"Anyway," said Tracy. "You didn't finish your story. How were we meant to get out of here?"

"I'll tell you when we find the girl. It'll be so much easier to get the key."

"The key…"

Meanwhile, Elektra stopped at a door to the side. "I wonder what's in here."

"No don't!" screamed Oz. But Elektra already had her head stuck in the room. A second later, she screamed "No! A man with snake eyes just saw me and he's coming out!"

Everyone was yelping until Elektra stopped. "Ha-ha, I made it up, there's nothing in that room."

Everyone groaned.

"Elektra, how could you say that at a time like this?" said Mike. "We have to find Tee before something worse happens."

"Yeah!" shouted Jody, going up to confront Elektra. "We don't want to stay here. Maybe you do!" With that, she pushed Elektra through the open door.

Elektra fell back on the floor, where a circle of white was painted. And everyone watched as her body dissolved and disappeared.

There were exclamations from the kids and adults, but not Oz.

"Where's she gone?" asked Sapphire. "That is a circle of Fulk," said Oz. "An elevator for the beasts. They're too large to walk up and down the stairs, so they use this circle to travel up and down the house."

"We're losing kids by the minute!" stated Cam.

"We have to look for both children now," said Oz. "With the Fulk circle, she could be anywhere from Losana's Jungle cauldron to the Summon Room!"

"Which is worse?" Gus asked.

"Both are bad! Everyone, follow me." Oz shifted through the hall. "We're checking both places."

**I'm not gonna update until tomorrow. Sorry.**


	12. Where is Elektra?

**Sorry guys. 3 days ago I know I said that I'd update tomorrow. But tomorrow I couldn't look at a computer screen because my eyes were buzzing as if I smoked ounces of marijuana. And yesterday my Internet just came back so I just didn't. Here's chapter 12.**

**AbbieCole: Thanks, please still read.**

**Beautifully Mad: OK, yeah I thought that it would be something that he'd say**

**strawberrymagic01 - Please read more.  
**

Elektra looked around to see where she had landed. She was still sitting on the ground. Stupid Jody!

The ground that she was on had a black circle painted. "Hmm, weird. The other floor had a white circle. How did I end up here?"

She stood up and saw that she was in a white room. The whole pace was white. Hang on...

Elektra was only in one part of the room. Right in the corner. This corner was enclosed by a glass door. That's what Elektra was looking through, how she could see the room.

She saw that there were some people all around. They did not see her, they were all busy walking around. These people... Elektra couldn't see their faces. Not because they had their backs turned to her, but because they had something on their heads.

Masks? No, it covered every angle of their heads. Strange-looking head-covers. They looked so fluffy. Yeuch. Elektra would never want to wear one of those.

Of course! They were SHEEP-HEADS. Every single person in the room had one on. Why?

Everyone was wearing exactly the same clothes. A sheep-head, white sleeveless top exposing white bloodied arms. The top was long, it reached down to the ankles. Except that these people didn't have ankles.

To Elektra, it seemed to be legs of mutton, that they had. Sort of red raw, dead sheep legs.

"Are those real sheep-heads?" Elektra said. These people were sick, Elektra could remember what Oz said about their plans to use children.

"OK, I need to get out of this room, what are they doing?" Elektra saw that they were preparing a table. A large table with scratch marks all over. One sheep-person, they were especially large, was standing right at the front while everyone worked.

She wondered if these sheep-people wore anything under their tops. She saw one worker brandishing a knife.

Elektra realised where she was. She swore. It was the Summon Room. Everyone was getting ready for the sacrification of nine children. And Elektra was one of the victims.

She had to flee the scene and tell the others. But she'll easily be spotted; she was without a costume.

Elektra exited the little glass room and headed to a sort of coat-hanger place. But instead of coat-hangers hung sheepheads, and tunics.

She slipped on the tunic first. It was so uncomfortable, and it made her look fat because she had all her clothes on underneath.

Now to put on the head. Elektra grabbed the sheep top but almost lost her guts. Looking a dead sheep in the face is not a sight that one is prepared for. She put it on.

It was so warm under that mask. So it was a real sheep-head. But surprisingly, Elektra could actually see through its eyes.

She crept around the room looking for the exit. It wasn't that hard to place; there was only one door. She looked back before she opened it. The largest sheep-person started to talk.

"Tonight's the time!"

Elektra rushed to exit, and burst open the door.

But right outside were two figures, almost screaming their heads off.

She saw that it was two girls. One she recognised, but who was the other?

**I had to edit this and everything. Because I wrote this on a bus ride right after I typed up Chapter 11. It was fun though, writing a whole chapter in a bus.**


	13. Sheep Sleep

**I am so sorry :'(**

A while ago

Fascinated by the sound of sheep, Tee was about to open the door. But a girl appeared from beyond the passageway.

"No! You don't want to go in there!" The girl was, well how else would you describe an unknown person suddenly appearing in a haunted house? She looked how she appeared - abrupt. Hair flying out. Flat-chested. Of course. She looked about 10 years old.

"And who are you?" said Tee, wanting to go inside the room and see all the sheep inside.

The girl grabbed Tee's hand and pressed hard. They both saw the film in Tee's head.

Tee saw a field. "Hey, I remember this place." A sheep was giving birth to a lamb. Tee picked up the lamb. Her mum told her to put it down. Tee held on to it. Her mum took the lamb away from her.

It turned into another flashback. Tee was reading a book about sheep. She was in primary school. "I'm going to live with sheep when I'm older," she told her teacher. Her teacher took her class to a trip. Tee was the last one to leave because she was still playing with the sheep.

The flashback turned into a flashfroward. Tee was operating on a sheep. It was dying. She buried her head into its stomach. She saw its heart faltering. She saw through the sheep's eyes.

No, she was actually looking through the sheep's eyes. The girl had put a sheep head right on top of her!

"What did you do that for?" Tee said, grimacing at how tight the sheep-head was on.

"You wanted to go in there," the girl pointed at the room. "You can't go in without one of these."

"What are you?" Tee said through the sheep's head. "You just showed me things I've fogotten about. And things that haven't even happened."

"I'm Daisy. The house's mage. Sheep have been in and out of your life ever since you were a child. You wanted to go in there because you heard a sheep. But it's not what you think. In case you were stupid enough to go there, I put this sheep head on you."

"Take it off, it doesn't feel nice." Daisy clicked her finger - zap - and her sheep-head was gone.

"Thank you. NNow tell me what's in that room?"

"It's for the killing. What they kill, the children. Using their soul and spirit for their own desires. You came with some adults, didn't you? They don't need them, they'll kill them."

Tee went nearer the door. "Why do I hear some sheep inside then? You said that I can't go to the room unless I wear one."

"Well, where do you think they get the sheep from? They also kill sheep to use their heads."

Suddenly, the door burst open. Daisy and Tee turned to see what was standing in the doorway, and screamed their heads off when they saw a sheep's head with full-on costume.

**Sorry!**


	14. Everyone together

**Sorry guys, I didn't know that I typed up this chapter, but i was looking through my USB, and saw that i did so here it is. Oh yeah AbbieCole, you were right about who it was, i think that everyone got it.**

**I'm not being a lazy bastard or anything, but college is a very budy thing to do. i was thinking about quitting it, it gets so tough sometimes but it's something I have to do. on the other hand, FanFiction is not something I have to do, but i'm not going to close my account or anything, I definitely haven't given up on this story, just last weekend I was adding more chapters in it and I got more into it.**

**Please so that i can keep going for a few more months (I'm 17 in October!) can someone give me more ideas. I've got a lot written down, but i think I could do with more. I've sorted out every character that needs to be in it, but I need more horror stuff, and also there sohuld be twist some time soon when (if!) the characters get out. Please don't give up on me.**

Elektra watched the two girls. How did Tee manage to find another girl in here, and one who didn't happen to be a ghost?

Tee stopped screaming and looked down. Under the white tunic that the person was wearing were blue shoes that she recognised.

"Be quiet!" The voice behind the head called.

"Elektra, is that you?" Tee asked.

Elektra pulled the head off and put it between her hands. "Whoever used this mask-thing on before had wet skin. Yuck, they sweated a lot."

Daisy spoke up. "What were you doing in there? Only the evil summoners go to that room. And how did you survive without them seeing you? Where did you get those clothes from?"

Elektra said, "Tee, who's your friend with all the questions?"

"This is Daisy, the mage. What were you doing in there?"

"Well, after you disappeared in the middle of Oz's speech, we all had to look for you. Then I managed to magick into a room by falling onto a circle, and I ended up in there." She pointed at the door.

"What was in there? How was it like?" asked Tee.

"Oh wow, there's all these people wearing the things I'm wearing. I found this spare one in the corner of the room. Right now they're getting prepared for the sacrificing. I just saw some of them around this big table covered in blood."

Everyone heard a lot of footsteps and voices coming out of the corner.

"There they are!" Tracy appeared at the front of the Dumping Ground crowd.

"Elektra, how did you get yourself down here? Tee! What were you thinking? Leaving us without any explanation. And ooh, who are you?" Tracy looked wonderingly at Daisy.

"She's some sort of witch," said Elektra. "That's what Tee said.

"I didn't say that," Tee denied. "She's a mage. The real witch is in that room." Tee pointed at the Jungle Room.

"You managed not to be captured by Losana?" asked Oz.

"I put chewing gum in the door."

"Where did you get this girl from?" Oz asked Mike. "Any other kid would have been sacrificed by then."

"Sacrificed! That reminds me," said Elektra. "You don't want to go in that room right there. They were about to kill a sheep this big."

"Kill a sheep?" Tee asked, trembling. "No! They can't do that." And with that, she lunged into the room before anyone could stop her. Luckily, Daisy managed to zap a costume for her just in time.

"Now what are we meant to do?" asked Johnny. "We can't go in that room."

Oz looked at Mike for the second time. "Now where on Earth did you get a girl like that? Always entering the worst risks."

**I know it's short, but now that I go to college, i'd have less time writing stories, and more time writing essays. (I do history and English Literature, for history I have to get 3 essays with 1000 words each done by the end of October. for English Lit, that's more words, like 2,000 comparing two stories. The Turn of the Screw is one. Ever heard of it?)**


	15. Tee gets captured

**Thanks Beautifully Mad and Linnéagb and anonymous reviewer who I think I know.**

**Ok, I'm going to update this weekly from now on. College makes it harder to do it more than that.**

**Hey by the way, do you think I should change my options?**

**I do, English literature, History, Maths, and Spanish.**

**Should I change two of those to Chemistry and Biology? Because, I want a career that actually means something instead of writing silly reports or speaking Spanish fluently. I need about two days to come to a decision. Please, feel free to tell me.**

****Tee ran into the Summon Room with her full costume. Further out there were other Summoners around a large table, with a sheep tied down to it.

Tee ran up to the biggest Summoner who had the knife in his hands. "No, you're not going to kill it!" She shouted up at him.

The other Summoners looked down at her, confused.

"Why not?" asked one of them.

"It's cruel. Why would you want to kill this sheep?"

"Well, if you think it's so cruel, then why do you wear these heads that we've made?"

Tee lifted the sheep-head off and everyone looked at her. "You're not one of us! She's one of the children."

Tee realised what she had done. Oops! She was right in the heart of the Summon Room surrounded by the people who would sacrifice her.

"Get her!" shouted the biggest, while everyone carried Tee off for a special ceremony about to happen.

* * *

"OK, I'll use my magic to give you all the Summoner outfit," Daisy explained. "Then somehow we'll smuggle to get her out of here."

"Do it now," said Cam, "We don't know what's happening to her right now."

All ten of them were now Summoners.

"Hey, I can't actually do anything with a broken leg," said Sapphire.

"Well, duh. I can just use my powers on that." Daisy did a spell on Sapphire whose leg healed in a flash.

Then all of them entered the Summon Room. Oz's spirit followed them.

"So where are they?" asked Rick.

There was absolutely nobody in the room. all the Summoners had gone, and just a dead sheep lay on the table.

"They must have found her," said Oz. "There's no way she came in here undetected."

"What are you all doing here?" asked a Summoner who appeared from a secret passageway. "We've got one of the children right here."

The Dumping Ground Summoners tried not to react. "Show us the girl," called Mike. The Summoner took all of them to the secret room, where they saw Tee. She was tied up and had blood running down her mouth.

The Summoner who led them there said, "Here's one of them."

"Where are the rest of the Summoners?" Gus asked.

"Where do you think? There's other children left in the house. We can't let them escape, so they left their post and they're out there looking for them. And you should too."

"No we shouldn't," said Daisy, clicking her fingers to remove all the costumes.

"You're not Summoners!" said the Summoner. He took out a side knife to strike them, but Elektra crept behind him and hit the back of his head with a jack-hammer.

**Oh wow, I never saw that coming. I thought they were all dead meat.**

**Oh yeah, Linnéagb you can inbox me if you have any other ideas. I'm just about to start "writing" chapter 17 today (On weekends is when I continue fanficitons on paper).**


	16. Hostage

**I said that I would update every Saturday, and so I will. And um, I'm trying to write quick because I have to give a history essay in by Monday 9AM, that has to be maximum of 1,500 words. Grr. History. Why! Anyway, thanks reviewers, Beautifully Mad, breather89 and AbbieCole. Yeah, Beautifully Mad, the jack-hammer comes later on as well. o.P**

"OK, untie Tee," said Tracy. "Quick, she's hurt. What did they do to you?"

"It was awful," sobbed Tee, after Rick took off the gag around her mouth. "They tied me up and killed that sheep in front of me! I was about to be sick."

"Well what do we do about him?" Elektra pointed at the man who they dragged out of his summoner costume. He was lying on the ground with a big bump on his head.

"I think you killed him," said Gus.

"Elektra's a murderer," said Carmen.

"No, I don't think he's dead," said Tracy. "But when he wakes up, we're finding out everything about him."

"I can make him wake up now," said Daisy.

"Do that," said Oz.

Daisy waved her invisible wand and the man woke up.

"How did you all get here? Let me go!"

Tracy took charge. "Not until you tell us everything about what goes on in here. Why are you trying to murder all our children?"

"Hey, I'm not even the owner of this place. You want to find someone to blame for all this, talk to Mr Parker."

Mr Parker. Tracy hadn't even seen him since the evening. What time was it now?

"I haven't seen him for long now. Not since he was trying to poison us."

"Poison us?" said the Dumping Ground in unison.

"I did try and tell you," said Tracy. "You lot were under a spell."

"So," said the capture Summoner. "I see you lot evaded the pills that he stuck into those grapes. Never mind that, we'll find a way to get you all. You know a lot about what goes on here. The steel traps will definitely block you from the exits."

"And how, exactly, are you going to do that if we've got you here?" asked Mike.

"You won't get far with me," replied the Summoner. "Once word gets 'round, you all will be shut in here. Not even the hell-fires of Cranning House will get to you before our Summon King knows where you are." And with that, he attempted to break away from all of them. He shouldn't have tried, being surrounded by 10 people, a mage and a spirit.

After they locked him away in a cupboard, they thought about what he said.

"Summon King..." Tracy wondered.

"OH, I know!" said Daisy. "The Summon King would be the biggest Summoner around here, by size. It doesn't matter if you trap a million Summoners. The Summon King is the one you'd have to kill with the Rath knife."

"Explain more?" said Tracy.

"How could I forget?" mentioned Oz. "My sacrificing, 26 years ago. I've got clearer images of it. Daisy's explanation gave me a gist. I can see it now. I'm in this exact room, in the table. On the table. All these Summoners are around, a lot of them. But one holds the Sacrficing Knife. The Summon King. Lesser Summoners don't do the duty. And by detecting the Summon King, you have to kill him..."

"...and the horrors at Cranning House would disappear," said Daisy and Oz together, as if it were something they were reciting.

Elektra thought that it was worth mentioning something. "But guys. When I first arrived here from the Fulk Circle, I saw the Summon King. He was standing right at the front of the procession. He was huge. Don't you think that it'd be easy enough to find him because he's the biggest?"

"Don't let your eyes deceive you girl," said Oz. "With the outfit of the Summon King, you grow. An ant that finds a disguise could appear a whale to its observers. It's not what you see. The person who owns the Summon King outfit could be any of the men at Cranning House."

"The owner," suggested Tee, blindly. "I saw him a while ago in the corridors. He was looking for you lot. It's so obvious that it had to be him."

"Maybe not," said Daisy. "I also saw him just before I found you. And it's unlikely that the Cranning owner would take on a job as important as the Summon King."

"So what are you gonna do?" asked Tracy. "We don't know who this person could be, and there's millions of people/monsters/whatever in this house."

"Find the _Rath Knife_," said Daisy. "Without it, you're no match for the King. Forget about him now. Just look for the knife. Because you need something to protect you against the knife that the Summon King has."

It took quite some time for the newly received information to sink into the kids. They would have thought that they were about halfway through the adventure. And what Tee had seen, this was shocking to her. She had some information that the others did not...

**OMG, I want to know what Tee knows. Damn. I have to wait until next Saturday to find out. :**


	17. Slimeball

**Hi, I'm back, after a week. It seems to be quite slow for me to update every Saturday, so I'd be happy to tell you that I'll try and do it more often. :) I liked writing this chapter.**

Just before Tee has been tied up and knocked out, she saw who the Summon King was. It was him without his mask. Who was he? Tee had felt as if she had known him somewhere before. But it was too late to think She was gagged too many times to think about her escape, rather than whoever this man was. So it was a man—that didn't make anything more clearer. Not much people in the Summon Room were women. So would she tell the others that she might have recognised him?

What she had said was that it had to have been the owner, but that was just a guess. Daisy thought otherwise. And maybe she was right. Finding the knife was much more important.

"Don't you think a knife would be in a kitchen?" Cam said.

"Who knows?" said Tracy. "C'mon everyone, we're going there." Everyone walked more cautiously than they did before. Anything could have crept up to them without any warning. Elektra carried her jack-hammer weapon with her - a though girl could bring on a match against any spectres.

Reaching the kitchen, everyone looked around in cupboards, drawers and in any hidden place. Daisy stayed right outside as a guard. Oz couldn't really do anything except for advising the lot. Everyone was taking useless objects out of nooks and crannies in the kitchen.

"Well look here then," announced Cam. "Someone likes to write." She took a big handwritten book out of the space behind the cooker and a little table.

"Be careful with that," said Oz. "Fire demons operate in the oven. One naked flame and the whole book is vanquished."

"Oh we don't want that," said Mike. "No more burnt noses or shirts."

Cam, ever so carefully, put the book on the porcelain drawer. She read out the title. "_The Virgin Sacrifice._ Is that helpful?"

"Let me look through that," said Oz, shrinking to the size of a pea and transforming from the air onto the pages of the book. Everyone, oblivious to what he was doing, looked at at the book as if it were about to come alive, or do something absurd like fly.

After some time, Oz came out of the book and dissolved into his former state.

"I looked through it. It was written centuries ago. It seems that the preferred targets are the virgins. It explains why they seek children. Young souls can be collected in," he explained, watching the shocked expressions of the Dumping Ground adults.

"Yes, it does explain a lot," said Tracy. "Now this whole horror is becoming ridiculous. We have to protect the children even more. Virgin Sacrifice? What kind of messed up world did these monsters come from?"

"Hades?" guessed Oz. "Elysian Fields? These beings came from a place of death. I guess that their dimension thinks of nothing of importance in chastity. Virginity is an open subject to them. I would tell you more, but some of these chillun look too young to be presented in this matter."

"Yeah right," said Elektra. "As if there hasn't been anything unsuitable since our stay here. Virginity? Seems pretty mild."

Jody was one who was clueless. She didn't know what they were talking about.

"Please," said Cam. "If it's something we have to know, then its fine. Otherwise, just pick out all of the safe bits."

"There was a mechanism unlocked as you all came in," explained Oz. "It takes record of virginity. Those of you have been detected as young virgins have been put down for the sacrifice."

"We know that some of us haven't," said Elektra, looking at Sapphire. "So you're safe."

"Oi!" scolded Tracy. She focused on Oz. "Enough with the virgin talk. I get the idea. But... what else did the book say?"

"The plane of Earth is held by a string from the plane of the 'monsters'' dimension. With 3 sacrifices, the Summoners can transport between each plane. Think parallel worlds."

"Oh great," said Johnny. "So many things to remember now. How to get out of here, a Rath knife, stopping these virgin hunters..."

"That's enough," said Tracy calmly. "I think we can all cope if we just stick together." She leaned against the rotting walls of the kitchen. But she felt something poke her back. She turned and saw it was a little black bump jutting out of the wall.

"What's this?" She wondered, putting her hand against it, not realising it was a button. The moment it triggered, a sort of heavy dust fell on her.

It covered her hair. "Any idea what this is?" She asked Oz. He shook his ageless head.

"All right everyone," Tracy said, wiping her hair to get rid of the dust. "We're all sticking together now."

A split second after those words escaped her mouth, there was a creepy sound that lifted in the air. The Dumping Ground looked to see yellow slime form before their eyes. Slime that wrapped around their arms, connecting each one of them to the other, as a chain. The slime sneaked past Oz and extended out of the room and dragged along to a further person, which was Daisy.

"Hey! What's going on?"

**I'll update sooner than later.**


	18. Secret Partner - Wrong Timing

**Here's chapter 18. Thanks for the reviews guys.**

**hariot potterson - yeah I'm going to do a special update on tuesday.**

**Beautifully Mad - thanks.**

**Linneagb - OK I'm updating it now.**

**angelwhovian - the same, I'll update on Tuesday.**

"It could have been worse," commented Tracy. "Firstly, I didn't know that that dust makes whatever you say literally come true."

"Quite right," agreed Cam. "I know what you mean to say, and none of can get lost now."

The slime had harmlessly wrapped itself magically around everyone (except for Oz). Everyone could stick together without getting lost; that was good news.

Daisy was most annoyed, next to Elektra. "Why me? I'm a mage. I wasn't included when you said 'we're all sticking together'. I was waiting outside."

Elektra was slimed between Sapphire and Rick. "Oh what luck. Tell me this would get sorted out."

Daisy admitted that she couldn't get them out of this one, her powers had been used up to the maximum. She needed a refill of the elixir to continue. A refill that would take a lot of time to sort out.

"Wait for it to wear off," said Oz, who was unsure of the heavy dust details. "Either that, or the Rath knife can rid you of these."

Tee felt worse. It was not her day. All she could think was about sheep getting slaughtered and wanted to save them the most. Even if she was endangering herself with the human sacrifice.

So everyone sticking together had to discover their way around the house. Mr Parker knew about this Where had he been all this time? Making a special call to one of his _contacts_.

"Yes," he said into the atmosphere of an empty room. "Yes, they are definitely in the house. I know because the summoners are out there looking for them right now."

"That is right," replied a voice, appearing from the walls. "I know because I see them right now. Now tell me, who do you think is the strongest?"

"Possibly the little girl," said Mr Parker. "I saw her on her own, she was drifting away from the others. Now what's her name?"

"Tee," said the voice. The voice came from the walls but there was no one actually there. It was just a fragment of a being, locked away in this room.

This empty room contained a portal to the outside world, but not an escape route. This portal was only used to communicate with the people of outside. In this case, Mr Parker was talking to his partner, who had the seeing eyes of Cranning House.

His partner continued. "You are wrong. She is not one of the strongest. I know because a strong human can resist such pulls like the adventure of the hallways. You know what I mean? You saw her in the corridors because she got bored of her housemates' conversation. She actually went on her own to Losana's room. Pretty stupid and weak. The first time I saw her, I know she couldn't be a strong one. Brave, but weak."

"Enough of this!" Mr Parker called into the portal. "Just tell me who _you_ think is the strong one."

"My guess is the big girl. Tracy. She knew something was up even before she entered the house. Be careful. She may empower you."

"Unlikely," said Mr Parker. "Tell me. What are they doing now?"

His partner looked down through the seeing eyes. "They're searching for something. Don't ask me, I can only see them. They're all stuck together. How did that happen? Ooh, if only we invited the witches from the 16th Century, we'd have the hearing ears too. I cannot say what they're looking for, for I don't know."

"What do you suggest I do now?" asked Mr Parker.

"I suggest, set the traps," replied the voice. "Get all of them back alive. We may need the adults as well. Don't kill any of them."

"Alright," said Mr Parker. "I'll set the traps." Being the owner of Cranning House, Mr Parker probably invented the traps. And now, to turn them on, and keep the Dumping Ground locked in forever.

* * *

"If we couldn't find the Rath knife in the kitchen, then where else could it be?" asked Mike. "Search me," said Tracy, raising her arms, but stopping because the yellow slime was stretching and moving Cam and Mike's arms."

"Um guys," said Jody. Everyone turned to her. "I kinda need to... wee." She said the last word quietly.

"Oh no you don't," said Carmen, who was stuck to her. I'm not going to stand next to you in the toilet while you pee. No. I definitely can't."

"Cranning House doesn't have any toilets," said Daisy.

"Uh, what?" said Jody.

"They don't have any toiulets that you can use," said Daisy. "I mean, it's not like there's any room for them here. The builders needed all the extra space for the Summon Room."

"So how was she meant to go?" said Cam.

"We'll have to use the kitchen sink," said Daisy. "Is that OK, Jody?"

"Whatever. I really have to go now.!"

Daisy, who was at the end of the glue chain had to stretch as far as she could to drag Jody to the kitchen. Carmen was also taken, because the elasticity wasn't long enough.

"OK," said Diasy. "We won't look. You go."

Jody, sitting on the kitchen sink, had to relieve herself. She was trying not to act embarrassed, as Carmen and Daisy were right next to her.

"Finished," said Jody. She stoof up to wash her hands, and after she did, fire started to appear from the sink.

"Oh quick get out,2 said Daisy. "Fire demons are attracted to... wee."

Carmen led the way out of the room, her slime connected with Johnny. They looked back and saw that the fire demons had grown.

"Close the door!" shouted Mike. Daisy rushed to the kitchen door to stop the fire demons from escaping.

"Phew," said Jdy, raising her hand to wipe the sweat off her brow. "Hey!" she noticed.

"What?" said everyone else.

"The bogey slime is gone!"

**What did you think?**

**On Tuesday the 16th of October, it's my birthday. Woo! I'll be 17. So you better read it on that day. I'll probably upload two chapters, if I have time. :)**


	19. The Dark Room

**Happy birthday to me... yay! I'm 17 today. It's early in the morning, 5AM, and I type this. I have to go to college though. One more year and I'll be 18! I got a tongue piercing two days ago. That's what's different about me.**

**Thanks angelwhovian.**

**Linneagb - You know that's actually a good idea, I might do something like that later on, or maybe in the end.**

**Thanks Beautifully Mad.**

**Thanks hariot potterson**

"Don't feel too bad Carmen," Sapphire said. "I had to stand it when Gus peed in my room," she continued, glaring at Gus.

"Sapphire! Now's not the time," said Tracy. "We're not stuck anymore, so let's try and get out of here."

"Why did I even come here anyway? All Dumping Ground holidays suck. Well, I didn't go to the one last year, but I bet it did."

"OK everyone," said Tracy. "Just stop. We are going to get out of here, if you'd all listen to me. I've been planning a way to find out how to get the Rath Knife, and the Summon King and I'm readyto tell you. Oz?"

"Yes, Tracy. I'll tell them. I'm gonna have to leave all of you now, to spy on the rest. The moment I get more news, I'll come back to you." With that, he disappeared up the corridors of Cranning House.

"Elektra, have you still got the jack-hammer?" asked Tracy.

"No, I had to drop it when you got us all stuck together."

"Good," said tracy. "It's better to deal with them without weapons. Now come on everyone." She led the way, with Rick, Elektra, Sapphire, Johnny and Tee right behind her. "We better try upstairs."

Tracy walked up the stairs, but as she was nearing the top, the steps suddenly collapsed and her and the 5 behind her fell right through the opening.

"Hey! What just happened?" Mike watched Tracy anfd the 5 kids crashing down beneath the stairs. It was as if a hole had swallowed them.

"Come, let's follow them to see where they ended up," said Lily. She climbed up the first few steps but stopped. There was no hole to look down into. instead, it was replaced with the... stairs. The stairs had just grown back.

"Oh great," said Cam. "My daughter's on her own with 5 kids to deal with. How on Earth are we going to find them?"

Mike just watched. "I... don't suppose if we walk up the staits like them, the same thing will happen?"

"I don't know," said Daisy. "But still, let's continue. If we try and get out of danger ourselves, we would be able to save them." she walked up to the top of the stairs, without any damage done. "Coming?" She called down.

* * *

In the power room, Mr Parker laughed just as he pressed the button of the first trap. "They must have fallen through the stairs now."

* * *

Tracy looked to see what she had landed on. It was a dark place. the basement? Perhaps not. "Guys, are you OK?" She called out to the others.

Elektra swore. "How did we end up here?"

"What's the last thing you remember?" Tracy asked her.

"We were going upstairs," she said.

"We fell down. The stairs collapsed," continued Johnny. "how do we get back up?"

Everyone looked up. There was a light bulb in the ceiling that was not turned on.

"How could we have come from the stairs if there's no hole that we fell through?" asked Sapphire.

"Seriously, you ask that now?" said Rick. "Maybe there was a Fulk Circle in the stairs, and we just happened to step on it."

"No, you're wrong," said Johnny. "Oz said that the beasts of Cranning House can't walk up the stairs, so it couldn't have been one."

Tracy looked at Tee. "Do you know anything about this?"

Tee looked more neurotic than ever. "no. I'm just thinking that... the longer we stay here... the less time we have to save the sheep."

"Will you stop about the stupid sheep!" Johnny yelled at her, surprising everyone as he seemed calm in the evning. "If you hadn't gone to that Summon Room, then all those sheep thingies wouldn't even be looking for us."

Tee's eyes widened. "Oh shut up Johnny Taylor! you haven't even seen what I saw in that room. It'll give you nightmares for years if you saw the way they... killed that sheep. No, you weren't there. I was!"

Johnny didn't react to her backlash. "Well if you just stayed with us the whole time, then you wouldn't have been able to witness that. Who do you care about more? Us, or some brainless sheep?"

Tee couldn't think of a reply, so she just turned away from everyone and faced the wall. She held on to it, and slowly, as the others saw, faded out of view.

"Wait, where did she go?" said Sapphire.

"She touched the wall, and now sh'es gone," observed Rick.

"I'm going after her," declared Johnny.

"Johnny, no!" warned Tracy. "We don't know where she is."

"She's my sister," Johnny said, forgetting that he had just shouted at Tee before. Without waiting for Tracy to stop him, he touched the wall, and like Tee, he disappeared.

Tracy, Sapphire, Elektra and Rick could only watch.

"There's no way I'm copying them," said Elektra.

"We've lost two kids now," said Tracy.

**Please review and send me birthday wishes please. It's 17. You're only 17 once. For those old enough, could you tell me what you did for your 17th?**


	20. Tracy Transported

**I decided to write another chapter on the 16th October 2012, woo I'm still 17!**

**I'll tell you what I did:**

**I was up really early at 4AM, and I couldn't sleep so i thought "why not get up/after all I'm 17 now" So I got up and put up two chapters of "horrors at cranning house" and "the way to lose something"**

**I wore a new top that I bought yesterday, and I fixed up my hair with tonic and hairspray. And I put on a grey brimless hat, the ones you wear at winter.**

**I left, seeing outside as a seventeen year old. On the bus, left and saw an argument.**

**I couldn't get on the 205, so went on the next one. Went to colegio, and in history no one knew it was my birthday. Well, I did tell one girl.**

**I showed 3 different people my tongue pierce, (yay I got one!)**

**At lunch, I went shopping to buy me some cakes. It made my bag really heavy and because of this, I was 15 minutes late for Spanish.**

**At least people were kind there and everyone knew it was my birthday. This girl did get me something I suppose we're friends now. She said that I didn't have to get anything for her 18th next year.**

**Hey! I'm 18 next year!**

**Except, today in Spanish, I was ignoring some certain people who were chatting 's' about me on Twitter last week. SDo yo uthink I should forgive them or not?**

**Reviews...**

**Thanks angelwhovian: I need to know when your birthday is now.**

**Linnéagb: NO YOU CANNOT DIE, IF YOU DO THEN YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO READ MY STORIES.**

** By the way, your birthday message/song was great!**

Daisy showed the rest of her group a room. "It's this one. This is how I came here."

The room was circular and had some buttons surrounding the wall. "It's a replica of the Power Room. That's where MR Parker keeps in control of the house's traps.

"So why did you bring us here?" asked Mike.

"Like I said, this room is exactly like the one that Mr Parker controls. If I find the right button, then I'll know which trap he used, and we'll be able to find the rest. In fact, this is the very first room of Cranning House that I've been to. I used to be a machine for the owners. So they made this room and had to construct me. That's how I got my powers."

She inspected each individual button carefully. "They wanted to make a mage to control the magic of Cranning House. But I didn't work. They couldn't make me do any magic that they wanted. i could only control it myself. After that, they tried to rid me. I his in different rooms of this house, not showing, until I saw one of you."

"OK, so which button are you meant to press?" said Cam.

"Hmm, I don't remember." Daisy looked at the bits of the wall, trying to figure out if any gave a clue of which trap it triggered. "It must be one of these—" Daisy was aiming for two buttons, one above the other. "One must be for ground floor."

"Just press one," urged Jody.

Daisy blindly pushed the one on top, as they waited for something to happen.

Through everyone's eyes, they saw that the room began to fade. But then, everything came back.

"What was that?" asked Lily. "I feel so weightless now."

"Let's ask Daisy," said Mike. But Daisy was gone.

* * *

"Right." Tracy announced. "We're not going to look for them, and that's that. Let's figure a way out of here, so we could tell the others."

"Yeah, but the only way out of here is the way Johnny and Tee went," affirmed Sapphire.

"There must be something else," said Rick.

Suddenly, a voice started to speak to them. A sinister voice echoing around.

"Fools, you're trapped in my dead-end room. There's no way you can get out of here without my help."

"Who are you?" Tracy shouted back into the room, hearing her own voice echo. "Get us out now!"

"On one condition," said the voice. "The strongest must be transported into my room right now. Tracy, you're coming with me."

"What will you do with the others? Where's Johnny and Tee?"

"Those two are in a different realm now. And those other three, I'll free them. I'll take them to the others now."

Sapphire, Elektra and Rick looked at Tracy, waiting to hear her decision.

"OK, I'm ready. Bring it on."

A pause later, Tracy was beamed out of the room in a bright light. The others disappeared too, but off to a different destination to Tracy.

Tracy had landed in the Power Room, with Mr Parker.

"So it was you? You're the one who made us fall to that room."

"Yes, that was me. But I need you for the rest of the night so you can't help the others while we sacrifice them."

"Well, I've read the Virgin Sacrifice book, and I know how to get rid of you lot. You're not even allowed to do this to kids. You'll get taken to prison."

"No I won't. This house has more magic than the outside world. You can't prove anything that goes around here. Enough of this, you're going to help the other summoners prepare."

Tracy didn't say anything more, because she didn't want Mr Parker to know what she was planning. It was up to her to find out who the Summon King was.

**For the second time today, please review.**

**By the way, everyone watch this Tracy Beaker fan video that I made especially for my birthday. You have to type youtube dot com in the browser before you paste it though:**

** watch?v=ESV5B6VgaoA&feature= **


	21. Tracy and the Summoners

**What the fuck's good everyone?**

**So I've survived nearly a whole week of being 17, and about that Twitter thing, I think I've got it sorted out.**

**Linnéagb and angelwhovian: Thanks.**

**Newsflash - Sorry, I won't be able to update The Way to Lose Something today because this weekend I have to stay at home and write a history essay, also an English commentary, so sorry but you'll have to wait a while for the update to that.**

Rick, Sapphire and Elektra were reunited with Cam,Mike, Carmen, Lily, Gus and Jody.

"Where's Tracy?" asked Gus. "And Johnny and Tee?"

"Where's Daisy?" asked Sapphire. "And what happened to you guys? You kinda look..."

"Transparent," said Elektra.

Cam, Mike and the 4 kids there realised why they felt so weightless. They looked as if they were ghosts.

"It must have been Daisy," said Carmen. "She pressed some button and this happened to us. She disappeared. No maybe she's still here, she's just invisible now."

All waited for a reply from Daisy but there was none.

"We were in a dead-end room," explained Rick. "Johnny and Tee had an argument, and they vanished through a wall. A voice released us three to this room, but he took Tracy with him."

"Any idea of who he was?" asked Cam. The others shook their heads.

"Maybe it was the Summon King," suggested Lily. "Tracy's taken now. If she hasn't got the Rath Knife, then there's no way she can protect herself."

"And we don't know what to do now," added Carmen. "Oz is out there somewhere, Daisy's gone, so we're here on our own."

"I'm in charge now," proclaimed Cam. "Tracy's trapped and Johnny and Tee are missing. It's time to get rough with them now."

Cam led everyone out of the room, who were anxiously watching her, waiting to see what she would do.

* * *

The summoners took Tracy Beaker around the Summon Room, asking her questions and giving her heavy instructions. They had all their masks on, so Tracy couldn't tell if she was talking to the same person twice, or whether it was a different person.

"Help me set up this table," said one to her. "It's the first one. There's nine children for this, all sacrificed at the same time, so we need nine tables."

Tracy had to do as he said. Mr Parker had warned her that one false move would result in her giving herself up as monster bait. Tracy hasn't met any of the monsters yet, but didn't want to find out how they looked like.

"Give us their names," said a summoner. "All of them are assigned to their own table."

"Johnny, Tee..." Tracy started. The summoner waited for her to continue. _Why don't I make up some names?_ Tracy thought.

"Carry on," said the summoner.

"Samantha, Elena, Rex, Carmit, Lizzy, Jade, and..." Tracy thought of a fake name for Gus. "Gull," Tracy finished, hoping the summoner would think that it was a real name.

"OK, good. The Summon King will arrive here in about an hour, so you better have given me the right names. Don't try anything, because if you gave me the wrong names, your kids will die for no reason."

Tracy trembled at that thought. Maybe it was a bad idea to lie. She definitely had to try and get the Rath Knife. But what had Daisy said before? She had to find out who the Summon King was.

Tracy spoke up to ask a question of her own. "Excuse me, but, who exactly is the Summon King?"

"Don't you know? He's the one we all follow. We all watch in the ritual of the Virgin Sacrifice as he plunges the knife into the hearts. He also performs the ritual of the Sheep Sacrifice."

The summoner had given a lot of information, so Tracy pressed him on for more. "And who exactly is he? Does he take off his mask?"

"Of course he does. He's like one of us. Except... he doesn't live here like all of us. Why do you ask anyway?"

"Oh. No reason." Tracy stopped in case he got too suspicious.

_He doesn't live here,_ Tracy thought, _so he can't be Mr Parker. Who else would it be?_

Maybe it was someone Tracy didn't know. Even so, she didn't have the Rath Knife, so she couldn't kill him anyway.

"I've got to think of another plan."

* * *

The kids and Mike followed Cam's soulless body through the hallways.

"Where are we going?" asked Mike.

"We're going to confront them in the Summon Room," Cam replied bluntly.

"What? Six of us don't even have bodies. What are we even going to do?" Mike put his hand on the wall and wasn't surprised to find that there was no contact—his hand went through.

"See," he said. "We're not going to be able to do anything to them. Those three can—" she pointed at Sapphire, Rick and Elektra. "Exactly. If we can't do anything to them, then they can't do anything to us. Those three... they have bodies so..." Cam spoke directly to them. "Rick, Sapphire, Elektra, you're going to have to hide when we get into the Summon Room. You lot have bodies, so they probably'll sacrifice you on the spot."

The three didn't reply. Mike said, "Before they notice that we're in the room, we're going to check if the Rath Knife is in there. You lot are going to help, do you hear me Elektra? Because if any of us find it, we're not going to be able to use it."

"OK, whatever," said Elektra. "I'm the fighter here, so it should be me using it."

"We need to know who the king is first though," said Sapphire.

"You all know what to do now," said Cam, now outside the Summon Room. She opened the door and they all went inside.

They saw the summoners preparing something. They were all moving tables about. One of them didn't have a mask on. It was Tracy.

"Tracy's one of them," declared Lily.

**So, the next few bits, I know exactly what to write. Linnéagb gave me an idea as well. And wait till you find out who the Summon King is, although that probably wouldn't show until a few chapters.**


	22. Chained

**I'm sorry for updating in the afternoon rather in the morning as usual, but hey, at least I got it done. I'm sorry for not updating "The Way to Lose Something" as well, but there's a reason for that, I'll explain when I do update it (tomorrow?)**

**Thanks angelwhovian who reviewed it first (as usual). Thanks breather89 for your two long reviews.** **Thanks Linneagb.**

**To anonymous reviewer: You called me a "faggot" and a douche the way you say it to multiple other fics in this category, and have you stopped? No? Well, because of that, you're making yourself known by putting some other user's name in your review and this has got to stop.**

**Thanks Beautifully Mad. :o)**

****"OK, if Tracy had been turned into a summoner," said Cam, "that means we have even less time to look for the knife. Go on guys." Cam split with her ghost party, while Rick, Elektra and Sapphire hid.

"What if she sees us?" asked Rick. "She could be working with them by now. Look how she's co-operating with them."

"I don't know," said Sapphire. "She looks pretty normal to me. She might just be doing what they say."

"You guys are cowards," said Elektra. "Follow me to find some costumes, we'll find the knife."

Cam's party approached the tables. She announced quietly to her group "We'll look all around for the knife if anyone sees you, try not to make such a big deal of it, they can't hurt us. It doesn't matter if we split up, just don't leave the room."

Cam hid behind all of the summoners working and eavesdropped on them. They were talking to Tracy.

"We're nearly finished Tracy," said one. "After this, we're going to look for them. You're going to stay in here. So you can't escape." Tracy kept a straight face.

"I know what you're thinking," said another. "Don't try 're going to lock you into your own table. It's not really in the rules, but the Summon King hopes to see you still here. You'll meet him in awhile."

"How long is a while?" Tracy asked. She hoped that they would give a straight answer; she had to know if she would have enough time to think up something to either escape or find the knife.

Cam listened carefully too. She also had her own plotting, from the minute that she heard that the summoners were going to leave the room.

"I wouldn't expect it to be too quick for the King to arrive," answered the second summoner. "If we find your care family soon, then we'd probably call him in here quicker."

Cam quickly rushed to her ghost clan. "Mike, and you kids. Did you hear what he said? They're going to lock Tracy in the table so they could leave the room. We have to hide now, because if they see us now, they could change their plans." She explained about the summoners on their seek for the kids which would definitely take long since they didn't know that most of them were in the Summon Room already. "Hide, now!"

After the summoners had cleared the room, Cam, Mike and the 4 kids appeared to see Tracy, who was chained to a table by her neck. Tracy saw them and had a familiar look of fear upon her eyes.

"Oh guys. Don't tell me your dead, please."

"No, we're not," said Mike. "We're going to try and help you out. Except... our bodies go through objects now. I don't think we could do much."

"Where's the other 3? And Daisy?" Tracy asked, turning turning her head at an angle in case they were behind her.

"Rick, Elektra and Sapphire have bodies," explained Gus, who didn't have a notebook ready, seeing that he couldn't write in it anyway. "Daisy disappeared after pressing a button."

Rick and Sapphire came into the scene. "Tracy, you're not one of them are you?" asked Sapphire.

"Of course not," Tracy replied. "I had to help them move a few things. Where's Elektra?"

"She's digging up summoner costumes for us," said Rick. "Although I think it's quite pointless now that we have to find the knife. Did yo ufind out anything them?"

"Yes," said Tracy. Everyone was eager to listen. "He doesn't live here at all, the Summon King. I definitely don't know who it could be. But I didn't dare ask them about the knife. I don't think they would have let me live if they knew that I know."

Elektra came back from rummaging from the glass room of hung-sheep-heads. But she didn't carry any costumes on her.

"There aren't any left," she said. "I found this though " Elektra showed a black hilt of something. It looked a bit like the handle of an object. "I thought that it looked a bit like a knife, so I thought, why not bring it with me."

"Pass me that," Tracy said, from the table." It looks like a knife without a blade."

She extended her arm out and Elektra passed the hilt to her. Tracy felt electricity surge through her, but she didn't let go of the hilt.

"Ow! That noise is so loud!" she yelled. The others couldn't heat any peculiar noise."

"What noise?" said Mike. "Tracy! Can you hear us?"

Tracy has her eyes closed, deep in concentration, as if she were in a phantasmagoric stage. "I hear a voice!"

**Please tell me, I just made a stripper fan video about Lindsay Lohan on my youtube. Not suitable for under 18s.**


	23. Oz's Message

**Thanks Linneagb. Yes, I remember that in your Sister's in arms story there was something like that. What did they exactly write?**

**Thanks angelwhovian.**

**Where are the rest of my reviewers?**

Tracy squeezed the hilt that Elektra has given her and tried to block out the distracting noises. She heard a familiar voice.

"Tracy!"

It wasn't Mike or Cam, but it was an adult's. "Is that Oz?"

"Yes! Well done, Tracy. You're doing well."

"Where are you calling from?" She could imagine Oz in her mind, speaking to her. Except he actually was.

"No details Tracy. I've found out something, and it's for you to keep hidden."

"Just tell me what it is, please."

"You're holding the handle of a knife, correct?"

Tracy was right about her suspicions. "Yes. Is it the Rath Knife?"

"Tracy, what you have in your hand is part of the imitating Rath Knife. No blade included. I have the other part, but it's not the real thing. You still must need it!"

Tracy could smell smoke. "Oz! Where are you?"

"I can't say. Just trust me, I'm going to switch the blade I have with me to the knife you're holding. Co-operate Tracy, we'll see each other soon."

All the noises were gone and Tracy opened her eyes.

"You were talking to Oz?" said Cam.

Tracy tried to nod and looked at her hand. She was holding a knife with a handle the same as the one that Elektra had given her. She figured out that Oz had somehow manage to pass it through to her.

"Is that the Rath Knife?" Carmen asked.

Tracy replied, "Well, Oz told me that it's not the real one. He said that it's just an imitating one. Something like that. It feels weird, sort of electrical."

"So if we can, we should find the Summon King then," said Mike. " Before we all end up trapped like you."

"Someone take the knife," said Tracy. "It feels weird."

No one volunteered, so Tracy put it near the chain that was fixed on her neck.

CLICK.

"You're loose Tracy," said Carmen.

"What?" said Tracy. She saw that the vice that connected the chain to her neck had broken. Tracy slid herself out of the shackles and stood up.

"Hey, it was the knife," said Sapphire. "If it helped you get out of those, then maybe it'll get us out of the house."

"Obviously it must," said Tracy. "Oz told me. But I don't understand everything of what he said. About this not being real... Guys we're getting out of here, and I think I can find out how."

* * *

The girl looked through the hole in the wall.

"I have to get through to them somehow. It's not that easy."

She tried to figure out where exactly she was.

"I must be able to find a way to send a message to them. I mean, I'm the one who found out where the treasure hunt to the time capsule led to. They can't hear me."

She was in an outlined place surrounding a room.

"The Summon Room is through this hole. Who's that? Tracy's definitely there. And Mike and the rest. Except for me and Johnny."

Tee walked around the edges of the room, and found a door. She stepped through it and found another place that was like before.

"I think I know where I am. It's in the house, but not inside. I must be between the walls. And those holes show which room I'm looking into. So what room is this?"

Tee looked and saw that it was a library; a small room with books in bookshelves. "If Johnny was here, he could have helped to read some of those books. Maybe there was some important info about this place."

Tee noticed something that she hadn't before. There was a letterbox-shaped opening, lower in the wall than the hole. Tee put her hand through the opening and managed to grab a book.

"_Understanding Cranning Servants_."

Tee found that it wasn't much use, so she spent the next minute pulling other books out. She accidentally grabbed two at the same time, which caused the bottom book to fall. Not realising her mistake, she looked at the cover of the book that she had clasped on her hand.

"_The Speculation of Sacrifice_". It had a picture of sheep on the front cover. Tee was about to turn the page when she suddenly noticed the dropped book.

"Wow," she said, looking at the cover. "Reading this would be MUCH more useful."

**Pre-thanks for everyone who's going to review this chapter.**


	24. Booksearching

**Thanks angelwhovian and Linneagb. I think I've found a way to finish this story nearly, maybe in a few more weeks?**

**In case anyone hasn't noticed from my profile, I feel worse than last week. Last week was half-term yet I didn't leave my house from Wednesday to Sunday. Monday was just for college. Oh listen to Sticks and Stones by Nicola Roberts, it's a bit like how I feel, just a ****_little_**** bit, I'm not a girl.**

**And now I have a four-day weekend, because I don't have to go to college until this Wednesday. That's good. At least I don't have Spanish on Tuesday. And I think I like English better now. Anyway here's chapter 24.**

"Is someone watching us?" said Tracy, looking around the Summon Room.

"What do you mean?" said Cam.

"I don't know," said Tracy. "It's as if, we're in this room, but there's someone looking at us right now."

"In that case," said Rick, "We should get out of here."

"Wait, what about the summoners?" said Sapphire. "If they think that we're out there then they'll definitely find us."

"See how the outfits were a good idea?" remarked Elektra.

"Well, it doesn't matter," said Jody. To Tracy, she said "You've got the magic knife, it'll definitely help us."

"OK fine," said Tracy. "I doubt it will help us though. It doesn't seem very magic."

A few minutes later, after seeing that the coast was clear, everyone went into a room they hasn't seen before. It was a bookshop.

The room was quite small and didn't have any windows. Or maybe it did, but they weren't visible for the high bookshelves stacked with the stories of Cranning House.

"Look at the librarian," said Cam. Everyone saw that behind a desk, there was a skeletal librarian seated on the wooden chair, remaining still.

"Is it alive?" asked Jody.

Tracy tried to talk to it. "Skeleton? are you there? Can we borrow a book?"

The skeleton didn't answer. Tracy noticed that on the desk, there was hollow shape, possibly to fit a book. "Maybe it turns on when we put a book down."

She ordered everyone to look for useful books to read, in case they had important information.

Cam, Mike, Gus, Carmen, Lily and Jody couldn't help bring out the books, so they just looked at the spines to see if there were any titles worth mentioning.

After sifting through some non-useful books, Tracy moved to a different area, when she thought that she sensed something strange.

"All of you," she said. "Did any of you get any books out from this section?" She asked, pointing at the unchecked area.

"No," said everyone else, and they returned to look at books. Tracy looked at the bookshelf properly. She could have sworn that there were more books there. Yes. In the bottom shelf, there were a few empty spaces between some books, and some others books had fallen because of the gap. "Maybe someone's been here before."

After a while, the group decided that there was nothing to take from the library. Elektra opened the door to leave, and everyone was about to step out when a voice from behind stopped them.

"Not so fast."

**OK that's really it. Wait for the next chapter.**


	25. Fourth Horror: Skeleton Skirmish

**Hey everyone. I'm in a bit of a rush as I have to go protesting in West London in a few hours. So I'll type quickly.**

**Thank you breather89, it's OK.**

**Thank you Linneagb.**

**Thank you strawberrymagic01, I didn't notice you there. It's probably because I thought you lost interest in the novel.**

**Thank you angelwhovian. Trust me, you'll find out in this chapter.**

**BizarrePineapple15. Welcome aboard. Thank you for reviewing the first chapter, I hope you're able to catch up to this story before it's finished. You're stories are good also, I've read them since I was in Year 11. :) **

**OK, back to "Not so fast."**

Tracy turned around to find where the sinister voice had come from. Sure enough, the skeleton at the desk was now animated, standing now and glaring at the library intruders.

"Did you think that you could come into my study, look through my books and leave?"

"Hey!" shouted Tracy. "How were we supposed to know that you were alive? I tried talking to you, but you acted like you were dead."

"I am dead," said the skeleton. "Ha-ha. And although there are ten of you, I'm sure that my scimitar can help me get rid of you." The skeleton pulled out a long cutlass-like weapon from under the desk.

The kids began to panic. "He's going to fight us. Tracy, use your knife," suggested Carmen. "It's probably the best thing to use against it."

"I'm not sure about that," said Tracy. "Look at the size of his sword. He'll hack the Rath Knife to pieces. OK, ghosts come forward. He can't hit you with his scimitar. Bodies◙—back. Look for objects to throw at the skeleton. Maybe we could break his bones."

The Dumping Ground ghosts went closer to the skeleton fighter, hoping that they could confuse him while he uselessly tried to attack then. The others, Tracy, Rick, Sapphire and Elektra grabbed books from the shelves an flung them around the room aimlessly. As planned, the books went through the non-bodies of Mike, Cam and others and collided into the skeleton.

"What sorcery have you used to hide your bodies?" shouted the librarian "My weapon doesn't strike you, yet you warriors at the back can hit me with my books."

"Ever heard the expression of 'words can never hurt me'?" called Elektra. "It's not true. The books have millions of words and we're hitting you with them."

The books were all over the floor and Tracy noticed that the shelves were empty. "Rick, you grab those books from the floor. Aim for his sword."

"It's a scimitar!" The skeleton fighter pointed it out as Rick threw a massive book at him. The book was forced against the point of the scimitar and was sliced through, scattering the pages.

"Tracy," said Mike, exasperated from all the chaos around the room. "If that's how sharp his weapon is, you need to really get him!"

Tracy looked around the room for other things to throw when she saw the lamp hanging low from the ceiling. "Elektra or Sapphire. see that lamp over there? Rip it out of the ceiling! Quick. And Rick, continue throwing those books!"

Sapphire and Elektra jumped to grab the lamp out, when Elektra gave a strong yank and it was loose.

At the same time, Rick managed to aim a book at the librarian's sword hand, causing him to drop his weapon.

"Now!" called Tracy. She took the unlit skylamp from Sapphire and rushed past the transparent people. Now that the skeleton was unarmed, Tracy took her chance.

She shrieked like a warrior, bringing the lamp down over her head and hitting it against the skeleton's skull. This force of act caused the whole of the skeleton's head to break off from the rest of its bony body.

Tracy got up and inspected the state of the room. Every book was off the shelves and lying around on the floor around the floor around the librarian's desk. The lamp was also broken; it was shattered next to the skeleton's figure.

"That was hard work," said Tracy. "But it's done. I've killed a skeleton."

"Look at its sword," said Jody. "Should we take it for more protection?"

"It's too dangerous," said Mike. "Besides, who's going to carry it?"

"I could," said Elektra, happy of the thought of being a fighter, but Mike shook his head.

"We should get out now," said Cam.

"Yeah, this room was one of the creepiest I've seen," said Lily. "Please, let's just go."

They all started to leave, half-expecting the librarian to come alive and stop them.

"Tracy, take this."

Tracy looked around, and then turned to the girls.

"Take what?" She asked them.

"What?" Carmen and Lily looked oblivious.

"Didn't one of you just tell me to take something?" she asked.

Carmen and Lily shook their heads.

Weird, she thought. She looked back into the library before following the others. It was a female voice she heard. It sounded like one of the girls, but no one had answered.

**Well that was long. I hope you enjoyed the fight scene. Please review, telling me what you thought of it. I'll update next week. I'm glad it's nearly finishing. I tell you, it's gonna end well.**


	26. Guess who's back?

**Sorry guys, I totally forgot that I was meant to update today.**

**Linneagb thanks. I hope you read this as soon as you're back.**

**angelwhovian: Thanks.**

"Oh no," said Tee, watching the others leave the room. "She almost heard me. How's she ever going to get us out of here if she doesn't have this book?" She didn't know how large the outlined path around the walls were. "Does it even go around every room?"

Tee carried the book with her, trying to seek an exit to get out of the place she was in. "I just need to slip this last page to her..."

* * *

Tracy headed the group. "I mean it now. No matter how dangerous things get here, we have to find the missing two—Tee and Johnny. I don't know if Daisy's important enough to look for. Oz said he'll get us out of here, and I've got this knife, so everyone: be prepared to fight anyone who comes through."

"Tracy," aid Carmen. "Can't we just find a way to get our bodies back? It just sucks not having one—we're useless like this."

The other ghost forms agreed. "It' only for the best," added Mike. "You're the only adult who has a body, and we need them. Say, we do find a way out of this place with Johnny and Tee. But we don't get our bodies back?"

"If Daisy was here, she'd know what to do," said Tracy. "She's been gone for so long, I don't remember what she looked like."

"I do," said Gus. "She had long brown hair that flew in all directions. Her eyes were green. She wore a purple frock and a long green skirt, patterned with 32 white polka dots. One of her sleeves was marked with a burn, it was her right sleeve."

"How do you notice all this stuff?" asked Sapphire.

"How can you not?" replied Gus.

"Forget about Daisy for now," said Cam. "Maybe she's with Tee, since Tee's the one who found her."

"But I think that we should look for her," said Jody. "She looked about my age. And she knows a lot about this place."

"Obviously not enough to get out of here," said Elektra. "She managed to, what , kill all of you and ditch you to move somewhere."

"Yeah that's right," agreed Rick. "How do we know that she's not actually with them?"

"I don't think Daisy's like that," said Lily.

"Someone called?" A young girl, dressed in all black, camouflaged with the darkness appeared. "You were talking about _me_, right?"

"Daisy!" everyone called. "Yeah, I knew that it was definitely me you were talking about," said Daisy. "What can I do to help?"

"You are joking me?" said Sapphire, sceptically. "You turned all of them invisible and now they can walk through walls."

"Sorry?" said Daisy, smiling. "Well it was an accident. We were all in that room. I was trying to find out what trap Mr Parker used on you, but I ended up with the wraith-maker. You see, it was actually meant to change ghosts to bodies, but since these guys already had bodies, I guess it changed them into wraiths."

"And where did you disappear then?" asked Elektra.

"All of a sudden, I had to press another button. This was good news for me, though. It was just a short cut to my potions. I managed to drink up all I needed to get my powers back. See, I've even changed my clothes."

"So what took you so long to find us?" asked Tracy.

"I found out a lot of what was going on. I had snippets of the things. I know Mr Parker found you, Tracy, and took you to the Summon Room. I sensed Oz somewhere, it was as if he were burning."

Tracy could remember the faint odour of smoke in her memory. "Do you know where he was?"

"No, I couldn't tell. He's still out there. I do hope that he comes soon, Tracy, I expect he told you about the Rath Knife. I don't know any more about it than you do, so it's up to Oz to tell us."

"Then can you tell us what happened to Johnny and Tee?" Tracy asked.

"Johnny? Oh, Johnny and Tee, the siblings. See, I tried to discover where they were, using my powers, but it tells me that they're not far off. They're still in here somewhere, I didn't figure out exactly where; it's strange to me."

"Your powers?" Said Mike. "Can you swap our non-existent bodies back to normal then? We don't want to be transparent."

"Sure," replied Daisy. "But, it's like an advantage to you, isn't it?"

Tracy said, "Yeah it was, we managed to battle a skeleton using their ghosts as bait."

"Skeleton?" said Daisy, raising her eyebrow. "Well. I don't know about them; let's just hope this works."

"Hope?" echoed Carmen.

"I don't know if my powers can bring back your bodies. It's either this or go back to the replica room."

Daisy brought out her arm, and seemingly threw invisible dust on each of the spooks. Everyone anticipated a change. Daisy looked at them.

"Did it work then?"

**I hope you guess what happens next. What do you think?**


	27. A Woman

**So I guess not much people liked that chapter because I only got one review for it... I expected more because of the sudden return of an important character. Thanks guys.**

**thanks Linnéa and breather89.**

**As a punishment to non-reviewers, you're only getting a short chapter today. ;)**

****"I feel heavier than before," said Lily. "Maybe it has worked."

"How do we find out?" asked Carmen. Elektra pushed Carmen roughly.

"Elektra!" Mike scolded.

"Well it's worked, hasn't it?" Elektra said. "See, she moved."

"It worked," said Daisy. "I told you it would."

"OK, everyone's back to normal," said Rick. "What do we do now?"

"Run," instructed Daisy.

"What?" asked Tracy.

"Right at the end of the corridor, I see a group of Summoners. To get away from them, we have to run."

Nobody expected this panic so they just stared blankly for a few moments. Then they all ran through the darkness of the Cranning House corridors. Unfortunately, they heard the heavy thudding of the Summoners running behind them; catching up.

"Stop right there!" called the voice chasing them.

Everyone stopped where they were, not because they were told to, but because they didn't recognise the voice. They turned around and saw that it wasn't Summoners at all. It was a womanly figure. She didn't exactly look evil, but she had these cold staring eyes, green like pearls. Her face was hollowed out, rotting away, revealing bones.

Her purple lips stretched widely against her face and she wore a big cloak. She looked at all of them and rested her eyes on Daisy. "You girl, finally I found you."

"Who is it, Daisy?" Carmen asked, but Daisy shrugged her shoulders.

"Who are you? I've never seen you in this house before."

"Yes you have, Daisy. Many years ago," the woman replied. "I think that we need to talk. The rest of you as well, listen to my story."

"Is it going to get us out of here," asked Tracy.

"Yes," replied the woman. "After all, Mr Parker's the one who's agreed your liberty once I've finished."

"Mr Parker?" said Tracy. "But he's the owner. He's the one who made me help the Summoners. Why would he want to free us?"

"Just listen, Tracy," said the woman, who somehow knew Tracy's name. My subject is Daisy. She's really important. there is one reason why Mr Parker has been looking for you, and well, me of course. But you wouldn't remember Daisy, You were just a baby."

"Actually," said Daisy. "I think I already know everything about me. I was created in a replica of the Room. Mr Parker wanted to make me an evil witch. But I hid from him all this time."

"You've got it all wrong, Daisy. I know everything since before you were born."

"Oh yeah, and how would you know that?" asked Daisy, with a hand on her hip.

"I know because... I'm your mother."

**Well didn't that suddenly change things?**


	28. A Mother's Story

**Thanks Linneagb and angelwhovian. **

**Linneagb, remember the idea you gave me in one of reviews time ago "that shows up to be one of the Elm trees children parents." I kinda did something like that here.**

**angelwhovian - Remember when you submitted a character and a characteristic? It's developed here. "characteristics erm makes people laugh (that's what I'm best at doing and my name isn't daisy"**

"You can't be my mother," said Daisy. " was born into this house by a room. No way, you're lying."

"Daisy please listen to me, I can explain."

"What's there to explain?" asked Tracy. "How could you be her mother after you've just arrived for her after ten years?"

"I'M GOING TO EXPLAIN MY SIDE OF THE STORY NOW!" the woman bellowed. "Listen, all of you." Everyone hushed as the woman proceeded.

"My name is Elvira, and I've been living in this house since Mr Parker married me. Now all of you know that he's my husband. We all lived here for so long because we were conjurers of the unknown. We came from different worlds, and we wanted to settle in here. We called it Cranning House. It was mainly Mr Parker.

"He invited some of our other encounters, Losana, to guard the Plant Room, the monsters, because they were our friends. Mr Quer, the skeleton, to own our library. But this was not enough. We wanted something else.

"About ten years ago, we decided to have a child. We went to the Power Room, where all the magic is stored, and we chose to have our child there. That's how you came along Daisy. Our own special child to have to live with us in Cranning House.

"Of course you were special. We gave you our powers. You had the ability to do things that not even we could do. You used to make everyone laugh a lot, though you were really young. That was something of your characteristics.

"But one day it went wrong. Just when you were very young, you disappeared. We thought that you used one of your powers accidentally. We couldn't find you. So we had to do something.

"Mr Parker called on the realm of the Summoners. With them, they could help us look for you. And that they've been trying. Until the day that I was gone. I don't know what was happening to me.

"Mr Parker called off his search to look for me. He called on his Summoners to sacrifice sheep and humans to get me back. And now that I'm back, Mr Parker doesn't need victims anymore. And now I've found you, we could live together here."

Everyone stared open-mouthed at Elvira. Did her story make sense?

Daisy spoke up. "So, you killed a lot of innocent sheep and people, just to look for me?"

"We had to, Daisy. You are more important than humans and animals."

"But I look like a human. I think like one as well, I don't have any of your values!"

Elvira said, "Daisy. You are our daughter. All this can stop because of you."

"No!" Daisy shouted. "I don't believe you. Even if it is true, it's your fault that I'm stuck in this house. I've never seen the outside world because of you. How many times have I tried to escape from here, but I couldn't because of all these monsters and Summoners around. I was so scared of being trapped in this place."

"But you don't have to be," argued Elvira. "We can go back to our world, have fun there."

"No! I hate you, _Mum_. I'm giving you the blame, because you killed Oz and tried to kill my new friends here. You and _Dad. _I mean Mr Parker."

Tracy started to rack her brains. Something about Elvira's story didn't add up.

"We're your parents," said Elvira. "You have to believe us."

"Yes you must do," said Mr Parker, appearing from behind Elvira. "Come here Daisy."

Daisy reluctantly looked up at Mr Parker, her supposed father. "Are you really my dad?" she asked.

Tracy started to back away from the rest, realising something.

"Come here, Daisy," said Mr Parker, reaching out to get Daisy. She approached him, and when she did, Mr Parker grabbed hold of her. At that moment, the Dumping Ground watched as Elvira smiled. "Bye humans," she called out to them, before disappearing.

"It was just a trick!" Daisy shouted.

"And you can't help them now," said Mr Parker, grasping Daisy in his arms. "This was easy, getting you to trust us into thinking that you were out child. The humans have been distracted. Come out, guys!"

The Dumping Ground watched helplessly as the Summoners surrounded them. Tracy, who was by herself, was out of the way and out of reach from the Summoners.

"Oh wow. How are we going to get out of this one?"

**Please tell me what you think of this bit. I know it was a bit long.**


	29. Commence

**Thanks breather89, Linneagb and angelwhovian.**

**breather89 - I'm not sure about holidays... I was thinking about it... but realised I need as much time to revise for the History exam next month. : But I should be able to update on Christmas and New Year's Eve.**

**Oh and thanks SkittlesAreMyLife for adding to your favourites.**

It was so obvious that Elvira's story wasn't true, thought Tracy. Because Oz's sacrifice happened 26 years ago, when Daisy wasn't even born. Tracy was out of the way and the Summoners didn't see her. they were busy surrounding the other Dumping Ground residents and taking them away.

"Now we're nearly done, it's over for you lot." Mr Parker turned to Daisy. "You can't help them now."

Tracy hid in the corner of a corridor in Cranning House. Her friends were about to be sacrificed, and she wasn't there to help them. All she had was the knife, and she didn't know how to use it. Even if she did, it wouldn't help her, as _she_ too would get captured. She could remember the shouts of the Dumping Ground kids as they'd been taken.

But how was she to stop it now? Oz. He had to know something in the last hour that had passed since he'd talked to Tracy. But she had no clue of where he was. And what about the strange voices she's heard before? Were they forgotten souls of the house?

Tracy retrieved the knife from inside her top and inspected it. There had to be some sort of clue to what to do with it. But it just looked like the same enigmatic tool as before.

She crept out of the shadows which were spooking her.

"Hey Tracy!" Tracy quickly jerked her head to the right when she heard the voice. It was Daisy's.

"Daisy? I thought you were with the others when Mr Parker took you!"

"He didn't take me," Daisy said. "He said he didn't care about me and he didn't need me for the sacrifice. So I was let go. I didn't know that you escaped."

"Well I knew Elvira's story was not true, all the stuff she was saying. But Daisy, we need to get a move on. They're serious about this sacrifice now and they could all be dead before this is over."

"You're right. We're gonna have to think really hard now. I'll try out my bestest spells to get them out."

The two girls sped down the corridor, searching for a means to get the others out.

* * *

Mr Parker's partner stood where he was, looking through the Seeing Eyes. "It is time. They should all be ready for me. I'm going to make such an entrance. Say it's time they met me, but, wow, does it take an effort to travel to Cranning House from here." He looked through the portal. "Cranning House, the Summon King will return to you."

* * *

The Summon Room

A group of Summoners were preparing the congregation. They had tied all the kids to their assigned table. They tried not to react when they saw what they were labelled as.

"_Carmit_?" thought Carmen. "It must be a Tracy plan."

All of the kids had their eyes facing the ceiling; they were chained the same way that Tracy had been. None of them struggled to break free, not even Gus, who calmly shut his eyes trying to concentrate.

The adults, Mike and Cam, were with Mr Parker. However, Mr Parker had given them specific instructions.

"We're waiting for the Summon King. You must greet him when he appears. Haha, you've met him before, don't worry. But he had to disappear, to reach the portal."

Cam and Mike were thinking really desperately. Would they need to know who the king was? If they did, how would they inform Tracy?

Mr Parker led them to the other Summoners. "We're going to confer now. The sacrifice must begin as soon as the King arrives..."

**I admit, this chapter is a bit of average length. But don't worry, the story should finish soon.**


	30. Above the Summon Room

**Hi guys. I know I wanted to update a few hours ago, but I slight went mad because I noticed that Liz Phair—the best singer ever—retweeted one of my tweets so I just had a bit of happy hour. Anyway...**

**thanks to reviewers and breather89, the next chapter is coming soon, maybe chapter 35 or something.**

**By the way, since it's holidays, I'm going to be able to update more I'm trying to finish the story before the new year so that I could move on. You'll see the next chapter in a few days.**

****"Tracy," said Daisy, stopping at a place further up in Cranning House. "You see the space high up in the Summon Room with the balcony?"

"No, but carry on."

"Well, this place is the door to it. From here, you can see everything that goes on in the room. Hopefully, no one will see us, and when the Summon King comes then we could find out who he is."

Daisy showed Tracy the door.

"It's locked," Tracy said, trying to fumble with the knob. Daisy spun out a spell.

"Try now."

Once they were in, they found themselves in a whitish balcony that overlooked the room. Tracy was surprised at how big the room seemed. She noticed the clamour of the Summoners down below. Mike and Cam were amongst them, carefully looking around them.

Tracy noticed all the kids on their table. "I hope that they're OK," she commented. "They look so helpless."

"We need to get down there soon," said Daisy. "Once the King comes, we're going in."

"How?" asked Tracy. "Are we going to use your powers?"

"No," said Daisy. "My powers don't let me do that. Do you see the ledges and cupboards that surround the walls? That's how we're going to get down."

Tracy put a hand to her mouth. "No. That's too dangerous. Say we fall or something."

"Haven't you done anything like this before?"

"It wasn't serious like this. I didn't know that we'd be invaded by sheep. Well, I suppose I'm gonna have to do it then."

Below, in the main part of the Summon Room, the Summoners were talking excitedly amongst each other.

"Something big's gonna happen," one said.

"Oh yeah?" replied another sheep head.

"Just wait, we think we've got it all sorted when the King comes."

"Who is the King?" Mike tried asking one Summoner.

"It doesn't matter," the Summoner replied, "You'll see him when he comes. Now, when that happens, he's wearing a normal outfit like ours... Mr Parker hands him the sacrificial knife, then he grows before us."

"Does he ever take his mask off," asked Cam.

"Yes. Of course, that's the most dangerous part of the job—revealing his face... Because, we've heard of the power of the Rath...that be the one to destroy the Summon King, which can only happen once the Summon King is revealed. We all know who he is though, he's been here quite some time ago... but of course, you do not know anything about defeating the King, let alone the Rath Knife..."

Cam and Mike kept their poker faces while the Summoner talked. They were getting information gradually, and if it was any help, they'd know how to conquer against the evil Summoners. So... it was something about knowing who the Summoner was, and using the Rath Knife...

**I just decided now that I should finish this chapter here, and the rest to be added in a new chapter, I didn't want it to be longish. Enjoy.**


	31. Fallen Through

**Well, here's Chapter 31 then. I'm listening to Liz Phair while typing it. Currently: Why Can't I.**

Mr Parker's partner got into his car as he prepared to return to Cranning House. "Have to take the normal way back to the house," he said out loud.

He got into the driving seat and set off, about to embark on the journey to do his duty in Cranning House.

A few miles away from where he had driven off from, he noticed something in the distance.

_That van_, he thought. _I've seen that somewhere before_.

He tried extremely hard to remember where he had seen it before. Before he even realised who it was, he followed it with his car.

"Someone in that van must be someone I know... I have to stop them to see if I recognise them."

The van in front seemed to noticed that he was following it, but it neither slowed down nor speeded up. He overtook it and stopped right in front so that the van could reach to a halt. Sure enough, it did.

He got out of the car and confront the van. Then he saw the driver... and then instantly knew who it was.

"But why did you stop your car in front of me for?" The woman shouted, "I'm trying to get somewhere quickly, yeah, and you were trying to stop me."

The man prepared to reply to her as he closed his car door.

* * *

Tracy watched the Summoners form a congregation in the room. Some of them stood in front of the tabled where the kids were tied. Tracy turned to Daisy.

"Are you sure we should wait for the King? Anything could happen to them any minute now."

Daisy glanced over the view of the room and saw how the Summoners were co-operating.

"You're right, Tracy. We should go down right now, but still hide."

"Who's going first? You, because you're much smaller, or me?"

"Hmmm... You. Look at that ledge just over there, you should be able to reach it."

Tracy looked out of the balcony to the wall, where some narrow ledges were firmly planted. She had to avoid looking down because of how far the ground seemed from where she was located now.

Tracy stepped to the side, looked below and jumped to grab the jutting shelf.

"Careful," said Daisy. "Quick, try and jump to that cube-shaped shelf to the left of you."

Tracy was holding on to the ledge with both hands, and she noticed the shelf to her side. She could feel the sweat dropping on her brow and she braced her knees against the wall and tried to jump to catch the lower shelf.

But unbelievably, she lost her footing.

"Tracy!" gasped Daisy. "Quick, try and hold on to the bit you're on now. Don't try to jump, just stay where you are."

"I can't," called Tracy. "Look I'm about to fall, you need to try and help me!"

"Wait, just stay there, I'll come over and you just..."

Tracy suddenly let go of the ledge; she couldn't feel anything but the air pass her. Flailing her arms, she could feel herself rushing through the atmosphere, about to plunge 100 metres into the room.

_Is this the end?_ Tracy thought, hoping the there wouldn't be too much pain.

**Well that's it for now. So the story should be finished soon, I'll try and update soon for Christmas and stuff, yeah?**


	32. Down to Discuss

**Thanks reviewers.**

**So it's Christmas today... what did you guys do?**

Tracy suddenly hit something. She was confused. She couldn't have made contact with the ground already; it was far below.

She opened her eyes to see where she landed. It was a ledge which she hasn't seen before. Where did it come from? She looked up and saw Daisy's smiling face. It had to have been her. If she hadn't done a spell to save Tracy, who knows what would have happened.

"Carry on Tracy," Daisy called quietly. "You're almost there. Try to reach them." Tracy carefully made her way down to ground floor, but she didn't know what to do once she reached it. She looked up all the way to Daisy, who she saw was cautiously climbing down the walls and shelves.

Tracy looked at the congregation of Summoners who didn't notice the two girls sneaking down. Tracy saw that the Summoners were around the tables with Mr Parker and the kids, but not Mike and Cam. They were standing where the Summoners had been before.

Tracy turned to Daisy. "Do you think we can try and get to Mike and Cam and tell them our plan? The Summoners aren't facing them, so they won't see us."

"I'm not sure..." said Daisy. "What could the Summoners be doing to your kids? We can't see them because they''re blocking the way."

Tracy tried to see past the Summoners' bodies to see if the kids were in danger. "No, I think they're just talking to the kids... I don't think they're going to harm them right now... Come, quick, let's get to Mike."

"Tracy!" Mike and Cam whispered loudly when they reached them.

"Yeah, we didn't get caught by them. We're gonna try and make a plan before the Summon King comes. The kids are OK, right?"

"Yeah," said Cam. "Mr Parker passed them through some force field so they won't panic... Listen to me, Tracy, we found out something about the Summon King."

Mike and Cam told Tracy and Daisy what they had heard.

"So what? What were we meant to do when he takes his mask off? He could be anyone that we met?" Tracy commented.

"The Summoner we talked to mentioned the Rath Knife. He didn't think we even knew about it; or even that you've got it right now. You do have it, right?" asked Mike.

"Yes, I do," said Tracy. "OK, so we definitely know it's not Mr Parker, he's over there, and they told you that the Summon King is making his way over right now. That narrows it down to any other people we met."

"But we haven't even met much," said Cam. "There was Oz, and the Summoners and that librarian. Maybe we haven't already met the Summon King."

"Then there's no way we're gonna get out of here," said Tracy. "How about you, Daisy? Would you know any other people that would have been the King? Anyone who travels?"

"There's too many people for me to say," said Daisy. "And I don't think any of them leaves this house, so it wouldn't have been them."

Mike cut in, "Look, the 4 of us are safe while the kids are tied down. We really need to find out how to get Johnny and Tee back. What if we do get out in time; we can't just leave them here."

"True," said Tracy. "See, I told you guys something was wrong with this place ever since we entered. No even before. But you lot, you were all acting normal from that dinner meal."

That dinner seemed a long time ago. Mike and Cam struggled to remember it, when they didn't heed Tracy's warning about the place being unsafe. However, Tracy remembered it clearly. How the owner has been planning something bad...

Mike suddenly remembered something. "Hold on! I think I got an idea who the Summon King is!"

**Sorry everyone, i had to leave it there for suspense. Why don't you review your ideas about what you think Mike realised.**


	33. Hiding

**Thanks reviewers plus I see a new reviewer.**

**You're really clever about who the Summon King might be.**

"What is it, Mike?" asked Tracy.

"It's something you said about dinner," he replied.

"Yeah what about it?" said Tracy. "All I said was that you lot were acting normal from that time."

"But who was the one who brought the food in? There was two men; Mr Parker and..."

"Chives?" Tracy said. "Are you trying to say that...?"

"Yes," said Mike. "The last time we saw the butler Chives was when he brought the food in to us. The Summoner told us that the Summon King has visited time ago, so why wouldn't it be him?"

"Daisy, what do you think about this?" Tracy turned to the little girl.

"Well... I've only heard of the butler, Chives. I've never really seen him. So I don't know. If you think it is him, then go ahead and try to defeat him."

"Well if it's not the butler, then I don't know who else it could be," said Tracy. "I don't think that there was any other people likely to have been the Summon King. OK Chives, got it."

"But now that we know who it is... what were we meant to do?" asked Cam.

There was a deep silence between the four.

"Exactly right," said Tracy. "It's something to do with the Rath Knife, but other than that, I don't know. Maybe I have to stab him with it."

"And how are you gonna do that if he's bigger than the normal Summoners?" mentioned Mike.

"You're right. I jut wish we'd know what to actually do with the Knife. Oz said it's not even the real one so I don't even know what to do with it."

"You two," said Mike. "You better hide, it looks like Mr Parker has finished whatever he was doing with the Summoners."

Daisy and Tracy turned to see Mr Parker making his way out of the crowd of Summoners.

"Where should we go?" Tracy asked Daisy.

"Let's go over there," said Daisy, pointing at the corner of the room with the Summoner outfits. "It doesn't look like anyone's there, and no one could see us there from any place."

So in the corner room, Tracy noticed the white circle on the floor. "Be careful you don't step on the Fulk Circle; we need to think of some sort of plan now. OK, so now we think that the Summon King is Chives. And we're meant to use the Knife. I just want to know exactly what to do with it, it'd be so much easier to know."

"All I remember is what Oz said. Something about 'detecting the Summon King'. That's really it."

"Well, the Summon King—I mean Chives—is coming soon, so until then, we have to figure out what to do." Tracy looked at the wall and noticed something. A hole in the wall. "What is that, Daisy?"

Daisy looked at what Tracy was pointing at. "Hey, I haven't seen one of these in long. I forgot about them. I never told you that there are actually insides of this house. Between the walls, things can pass thorough. It's like a secret passageway inside the house. So one of those holes, you could probably see into."

Tracy approached the wall. "I actually think that someone's in there."

Daisy followed her to the wall, and sure enough, it sounded as if there was someone inside the secret passageway.

Tracy saw a feminine hand appear out of the whole. A feminine hand she recognised.


	34. The Rath Knife And Its Purpose

**Thanks reviewers, especially luluboo1 who has just arrived. Be quick, this story is nearly finished.**

"That's Tee's hand," Tracy told Daisy.

"Really?" asked Daisy. "Tee, is that you? she called into the hole.

They heard the faint voice of Tee answer back. "Yeah, it's me. I need to get out of here."

"Do you know how to get her out of there?" Tracy inquired Daisy.

We have to break down the wall," said Daisy.

"Break down the wall?" repeated Tracy. "But that'd make too much noise, we can't do that."

"Forget getting me out, Tracy then. I've got something important for you to read. I got it out of the library."

Tracy remembered when she had noticed some books disappearing from the shelves and realised that it must have been Tee. "Pass the book through the hole." Tracy saw Tee's hands coming through with a book with an ornamental cover. It was called "_The Rath Knife and its Purpose_".

"Tracy, I tried to give the book to you while you were in the library. You turned around because you heard me, but then you just walked away. Anyway, all you need to read is the last page."

Tracy went to the back of the book and read out the last page. "_When the carrier has the Rath Knife, here are the given words to say in order to vanquish the Summon King: 'Stand behind me and this knife, to stop this willing sacrifice, with the Rath Knife, this device, will eradicate you of Cranning House.'"_

There was a few more words into it too. Tracy read the next bit. "_The carrier has to make sure that the right word are said. Also, at the end of the recital, the name of the Summon King must be spoken, if known. If not, then the Summon King cannot be vanquished. Also, on no account must the carrier attempt to stab the Summon King. This would not defeat the Summon King and would be a deadly mistake. All that is needed is for the carrier to be carrying the Knife while the words are said. If the words are said wrong and the Summon King is undetected, then nothing will happen and the Rath Knife is futile._"

"So that's it then," said Daisy. "That's all we need to know. Thanks Tee, we really needed that book. And now we know that the mystery of the Rath Knife is that you're not meant to use it t all. You're just meant to carry it."

Tracy handed the book to Daisy and got out the Rath Knife. "Hey, it's glowing! What does that mean?"

"I think I know," said Daisy. She rummaged through pages of "_The Rath Knife and its Purpose"_ and stopped at one. She read the passage out loud. "_An important note to take is when the Rath Knife glows a dull golden colour. This means that the Summon King is close to coming at Cranning House. When the Summon King has entered Cranning House, that is when the Knife becomes stronger. It becomes stronger each time that the Summon King is near. The carrier must remember to read out the recital when the Summon King removes the mask of the Sheep from himself (as the most vulnerable part of the Summon King's mission)_. So it just means that the Summon King's coming. So you have to be ready to use the Rath Knife against him Tracy."

"What about me?" asked Tee. "What's gonna happen to me while I'm stuck between the walls?"

Daisy said, "OK Tee, while Tracy is reading it out, I'll try and break you out of there. Just be prepared Tee."

"I need something," said Tracy. "I need to look at something. Look how everyone else is waiting for the Summon King and every kid is quiet. I have to plan this out carefully so that I can take the Summon King by surprise."

"What is it exactly that you need?" asked Daisy.

"Gus's notebooks," said Tracy, about to set off into the Summon Room.

**Please please review, I promise that this story is finishing.**


	35. The Summon King

**Thanks reviews this story is finishing very very soon.**

_There's so much that Gus has written in his notebooks,_ Tracy thought. _He must have written about this place ever since we came in_. Tracy looked at where the kids were. "If Gus is there, then where would his notebooks be?"

She thought of asking Mike or Cam but Mr Parker was with them. She thought back to when the Summoners had surrounded them. They probably had their things taken from them and put somewhere.

Tracy went back to the entrance of the Summon Room, and sure enough, the Dumping Ground residents' belongings were there. She quickly rummaged through Gus's bags and found his notebooks. All of them were wrapped around an elastic band except for one. Tracy assumed that this was the most recent one he used.

She took it out and read the front page: "_Holiday 2012_. OK it's this one." she looked through the pages to look for anything to help her.

* * *

The Summon king had entered Cranning House. He was on his own, and he had to deal with the woman earlier. This delayed him, but hopefully, all would go to plan. All the children were safely locked in the tables, right?

Walking through the dark corridors, he stopped at a locked room. He took out his key and swiftly opened the door. This room was so small, but it only contained one thing that the Summon king needed—the Summoner outfit. Or more accurately, the Summon King outfit.

He grabbed the costume off the floor and left the room. Now to make his entrance. Up all the way to reach the balcony of the Summon Room. When he reached the top, he looked at the door. "Someone has tampered with this." He noticed that the door was already opened. Ignoring it, he pushed it open.

He saw the activity of everyone in the Summon Room. But no one had seen him yet. So, it was time to put the outfit on. Then he'd grow and be the most powerful Summoner.

* * *

"And you're out!" announced Daisy triumphantly. She looked at the battered remains of the wall, and Tee, who was covered with the debris of the insides of Cranning House.

"Finally! Whoa, everything is so bright, because it was so dark in there. Where has Tracy gone?"

"She said she needed Gus's notebooks for something. Quick, let's go find her."

"Tracy, what are you doing?"

Tracy put down Gus's notebook and saw Daisy and Tee running towards her. Daisy spoke again. "Did you find anything you needed?"

"I was just reading extra information," Tracy said. "Gus writes in so much details. He wrote about the old man we saw on the road right before we came in. He wrote about everything that happened in each room we went in."

"Tracy, you need to get ready with the Rath Knife, the Summon King might be here."

"Hey, this suddenly feels heavy now!" Tracy took out the Rath Knife. "Yeah I don't remember it weighing this much before."

"Then the Summon King must definitely be here," said Daisy. "Remember what the book said about it growing stronger?"

"Well, I don't see him. Do you see any Summon King around here?"

A sudden loud voice broke into the air and everyone looked out.

"Greetings residents of Cranning House, Summoners and Mr Parker. All hail to Summon King."

Tracy looked at the Summoners, who were all facing up to the Summon King. _I__s that Chives up there in the Summon King outfit? If it was, then he sounded different. Wait, I haven't even heard him speak that much._

"When is my cue?" Tracy asked Daisy.

"Just wait and be careful." replied Daisy. "He's all the way up there; wait until he comes down. You have the page with the Rath Knife recital right?"

"Yes," said Tracy. "I didn't have enough time to memorise it, so I'm gonna have to read it as I go along."

The Summon King continued. "And greetings to the residents of Elm Tree House. You all will be permanent residents of Cranning House soon, once I have completed the sacrifice. You all have met me before, don't worry, so I hope I don't give you all a fright. Don't worry, your deaths wouldn't be that painful. Just think of it as us repossessing your souls. You'd have a greater life in here than outside. No one will even remember you anymore, cos we _are_ in another world now."

Tracy paused to listen extremely carefully to what he was saying.

"Now all of you are probably wondering what will become of you once the sacrifice is over and I will tell you. Some of you will become Summoners. Now you might not think that it's much different but it is. You'll all grow the same mutton legs as my followers here. You'll still keep your bodies, and you'll be able to slip on the sheep masks. Others, you might have to travel between worlds. We'll need you to capture other unfortunates for Cranning House. And the rest... you will have your own rooms in Cranning House. Isn't that exciting? Now you won't be able to leave those rooms unless I say so. Like Losana. I can make you into anything you want. Losana wanted to be a hag, but I didn't want a hag. I wanted a witch, so that's what I made her.

"Anyway, enough with this introductory chat. Let's get on with the sacrifice. Mr Parker, would you please come forward.

The Summoners got out of the way to let Mr Parker step through. "Yes, Summon King?"

"Greetings. Remember our conversations through the Seeing Eyes? You did well, you happened to deceive everyone to bring them here. Good idea with the plan to trick that young girl into thinking you were her father.

"Always ready to help you, Summon King."

"Now I've got a question for you. Out of all the children on those tables. Who is the oldest?"

Mr Parker looked back at the children tied to the tables. He looked at Sapphire. "That one there. Samantha."

Tracy looked confused. Then she remembered what she had done before, with the Summoners.

"Untie Samantha now. Get two Summoners to help you if needed."

Mr Parker went to Sapphire's table and with two helpful Summoners, they got her out. The Summoners took each of Sapphire's arms and led her through to the view of the Summon King.

"Samantha." said the Summon King, looking down.

"What do you want?" asked Sapphire, looking indignantly up at the Summon King.

"Congratulations. You are the first. Step right up."

"First for what?" Sapphire asked. In front of her was a massive table. Tracy recognised it. It was the one that the Summoners had described to her as the main sacrificial table.

"That's the table they killed that sheep with?" said Tee.

"I will tell you," said the Summon King, as Sapphire had been locked down on the sacrificial table. "You are the first to be sacrificed."

**Hey, so what did you think? The next chapter should be up in a few minutes.**


	36. Last Chance

"No way," said Sapphire. "You're not going to kill me."

"It's not a killing," explained the Summon King. "It's a sacrifice. How many times am I going to tell you that?"

While this was happening, Daisy spoke to Tracy. "Quick, you have to do it now. I recommend you take him by surprise. Before he actually does the sacrificing, he takes his mask off. And you're gonna miss out on it if you stay here so go."

Tracy left the two girls and approached the sacrificial table. Sapphire was still arguing. "I don't care what you say, but you're not gonna sacrifice me."

"Calm down, Samantha," replied the Summon King. "I'm not gonna do it straightaway. I have to take my mask off. Don't you think it'd be pleasant for you to see who I am before I sacrifice you?"

"Does it matter who you are? No it doesn't. Because I know that we're gonna get out of her safely. I know that because we might have a plan."

"Your plan?" asked the Summoner. "I'm sorry, but where's your ringleader? That big girl Tracy? She hasn't come to your rescue has she? She's probably out there in the corridors of Cranning House, hopelessly thinking of a way to save you lot. So futile. You may have heard of the power of the Rath, but unfortunately, it all ends here."

Tracy hid behind the sacrificial table. She ducked so that the Summon King couldn't see her. So if he didn't know she was, then she was in a good position.

"Right Samantha. Now this is the part where I take off my mask. Don't worry you've seen my face before. Now this is the most dangerous part of my job. But I don't need to worry. You don't know about the Rath. So here I go."

Tracy revealed herself from her hiding place and looked at Tee and Daisy. She could see Daisy mouthing the words "NOW". Tracy climbed onto the sacrificial table, and she heard the gasps of astonishment as she did so, from the Dumping Ground, Sapphire, the Summoners and the Summon King.

"Didn't expect to see me again did you?" Tracy called up to the Summon King. "Well you're wrong. I know who you are, and it seems that you're mistaken. Because I do actually know about the power of the Rath. In fact, look at this." Tracy took out the Rath Knife, noticing that it felt so strong.

"You think that you could defeat me with the power of the Rath?" asked the Summon King. "After all, you do not even know my true identity, and that's crucial to know."

"In fact, I do know who you are," declared Tracy. "We've met you before. You didn't really talk to us did you? There we were at dinner, you and Mr Parker pretending that everything was normal. But I heard you guys speaking, about rigging the taxi. You were talking about the Summon as well. It's too obvious who you are, Chives. You're not hidden anymore. So take your mask off."

"Very well," said the Summon King.

"Wait... I've got to read out this recital." Tracy took the page out of her pocket. "So, you're not even scared that I'm about to vanquish you?"

"All's well," said the Summon King. "Just get along with it, I'm tired. And anyway, it must be really over for me then."

This was too easy. What was going on? The Summon King wasn't even going to put up a fight. Tracy thought very carefully before reading out the words.


	37. The Power of the Rath

"What are you waiting for, Tracy?" Mike called from below. "You know it's Chives, just carry on. You have to read out something to vanquish him, don't you? So go ahead."

"Yeah, go Tracy," said Sapphire. "I want to get out of these chains."

"Hold on," said Tracy. "I just need to think this through."

"What's to think through, Tracy?" Cam called.

"I don't know," said Tracy. "OK, I'll do it now."

"Go ahead Miss Tracy Beaker, I'm waiting." called the Summon King.

"OK," said Tracy, looking at the paper in front of her.

"Stand behind me and this knife"

She checked to see if anything magic would happen. It didn't.

"to stop this willing sacrifice"

Everyone anxiously watched as Tracy read out the next bit.

"With this Rath Knife, this device"

Tee and Daisy got closer to hear Tracy speak the rest of the recital.

"will eradicate you of Cranning House.

Making sure that we are free

From the netherworld we have the key

The Summon King will die tonight

As Cranning House will burn alight!"

The Summon King stood up. "Well, I'm about to remove my mask off now. There's one last bit for you to read, Tracy. Remember, "_the name of the Summon King must be spoken _Haha. You'd think you know me but in fact, you don't. and I thought you were the strongest out of the lot since I saw you outside.'." The Summon King prepared to remove his sheep-head.

Tracy remembered everything she went through in Cranning House, reading Gus's notebooks, all the room she had entered, co-operating with the Summoners... and all she had to say now was the name of the Summon King. What did he mean _since I saw you outside_? Chives hadn't seen them outside, did he? Unless...

Tracy didn't know how she didn't know this before.

"I got it!" she screamed. "I know your name! MR MORGUE!"

"WHAT?" Everyone in the room shouted, including the Summon King.

"It's your name, isn't it?" said Tracy. "I just realised that."

Suddenly, the Rath Knife lost control. It jerked out of Tracy's hand and flew straight into the direction of the Summon King. Suddenly, the sheep head became loose, and fell off the head off the Summon King, and his face was revealed. The sinister old taxi driver who had driven them to Cranning House.

"I was right, wasn't I?" Tracy looked so triumphant.

Mr Morgue's face took a change. It was growing brighter, until it was fading. No. It was melting. His whole body started melting.

"It's the power of the Rath!" Daisy shouted. "It worked Tracy! You killed the Summon King with the Rath Knife."

Everyone witness the fall of the Summon King, otherwise known as Mr Morgue. His body faded from view as it melted, burning away. And Tracy remembered what Oz had said. "_It doesn't matter if you trap a million Summoners. The Summon King is the one you'd have to kill with the Rath knife__". _Did that mean that the rest of the horrors at Cranning House were weak now?

Tracy rapidly untied Sapphire, and she saw Mike and Cam untying the rest.

"Hold it right there!" Mr Parker called.


	38. Burn It Down

"Just because the Summon King is dead," called Mr Parker, "doesn't mean that you can flee from us."

The doors of the Summon King swung open, and everyone was shocked to see what was remaining there. All the creatures of Cranning House. The monsters, Losana, Nomm, the fire demons and all sorts.

"What are we gonna do?" Tracy panicked, asking Daisy. "How are we gonna get past them?"

"I'll try to use my spells, all of them," said Daisy. "You lot try and fight them with everything you got."

Tracy, Sapphire and Tee joined the other. "Quick guys," she told them. "After we get all them, we're going to find Johnny and get out of here. Quick, just do everything, we don't need to be scared of them anymore.

Tracy grabbed hold of the sticks and used them to fight the Summoners. Elektra took the bigger weapons and like a warrior, hit them against the new monsters that had arrived.

After minutes of fighting, knocked out Summoners were lying on the floor.

"It's no use," said Mike. "We'll get so tired of it. We'll never keep up with them."

"Hey, what's that?" said, pointing at the far side of the Summon Room. "It looks like a flame."

Sure enough, there was a flame at the side of the room. It started growing bigger and spread around the room.

"Oh no," said Tracy. "We're all gonna die in the fire, and not even escape."

"Guys," said Cam. "See how the fire is on the other side. Maybe we'll try and get our belongings and find a way to escape."

"Yeah," said Daisy. "We can go through the wall that Tee was in. Surely there must be a way through there."

Everyone started rushing to grab their things. They saw a spectacular sight when they saw the fire spreading.

"Wow, all the Summoners and Mr Park are burning!" called Lily.

It was true. The fire had by now reached the Summoners, and Mr Parker was lying dead on the ground. Tracy noticed something else.

"Look where the fire started! There's people there. Who is it?"

Everyone turned to the source of the fire. There were two figures. One appeared to be floating and the other, just holding against the wall.

"It's Johnny and Oz!" shouted Sapphire. "Guys come down here!"

Oz and Johnny had reached the rest. "So clever of you Tracy," said Oz. "I knew you could do it. I was in the furnace. Johnny reached me at one point, and we plotted together. I had to pass you the Rath Knife, and we were waiting for you to detect the Summon King with it. And from the time you did vanquish him, Johnny and I had to set fire to this place. Now we could leave, while these souls are burning. Come quick, before the whole place burns down!"

* * *

The Dumping Ground had finally reached the exit of Cranning House. It was still night-time, and they were watching Cranning House burn down. It was such a sight, watching the holiday horror house burn down in front of them. Oz was with them, floating above, as the place burnt to a crisp.

When it was all done, Oz announced his departure. "Well, I'll have to leave you to it now"

"What? You leaving? After all the help you've given us?" Tracy said.

"It's my time to go," said Oz. "Twenty years I have waited for this. I am not alive anymore. I have to leave all of you... maybe to go to another world. Just don't forget me."

"Bye Oz," everyone said to him.

"Goodbye everyone," Oz replied. "Especially you Tracy, for being wise enough to save everyone. And you Johnny, for helping me burn down Cranning House. And you Sapphire, for freeing me in the first place."

He disappeared in a flash, leaving to move on to a different world.

"I think we should head back to Elm Tree," said Mike. "Come, let's try and ring a taxi. Are your phones, working guys?"

"Yeah," everyone said simultaneously.

They hasn't gone that far from the road when they saw the van. The Dumping Ground van.

"How did this get here?" said Tracy. "Maybe Gina came for us... I wonder why she just left her van here."

Mike noticed that the back of the van was open. "Hmm."

Everyone looked inside and got such a surprise. Gina was in the back of the van, tied up, with duct tape around her mouth.


	39. At Home

**Elm Tree House**

"It was so unexpected," said Gina. "I saw the taxi driver come at me. He stopped right in front of me and I had to get out of the car. Next thing I know, I was knocked out and he took the van to drive himself to Cranning House. Lucky you guys found me, otherwise I woulda been dead! I take it you didn't spend a good time on your holiday?"

"Too right," said Tracy. "I mean, look at the date. 15 August. I can't believe we were there for two weeks. It just felt like a really long night."

"I had to cut my holiday short as well," Gina said. "I got a phone call from the real taxi driver. He said that a man kidnapped him and took his taxi. That was Mr Morgue, yeah? Turns out the taxi that was meant to take to you to Cranning House was hijacked. I took this van as soon as I could to find out what was going on. and all I hear is stories about ghosts and sacrifices. I believe all of you after what I've been through."

"Well it turns out that we have a new housemate," said Mike. "Daisy, you can stay here, since there's no other place for you. I hope you enjoy your stay in Elm Tree House."

"Yeah it'll be fun," said Daisy. "The only house I've been to is Cranning."

"You can share with me," said Tee. "There's enough room."

"Can you still use your magic?" asked Rick.

"Yeah I can. Permanently. Good, I don't need to have any refills."

"So when is the police coming?" Tracy asked. The door knocked. "Speak of the devil."

* * *

"I'm sorry," said the policeman. "But I don't believe your story."

Tracy got angry. "What do you mean? All those monsters tried to kill us. And what about Gina getting kidnapped"

"There's no evidence," said the policeman. "Where is the man, Mr Morgue."

"He's dead! I told you," said Tracy. "I read out the recital and he just melted away in front of us."

"I wasn't there," said Gina. "But it's true. I'll believe it. I even saw some of the house burning."

The policeman got up. "OK, just call me back when you're ready to tell the truth. I have other important stuff to be doing."

"WAIT!" shouted Tracy. She took out the legendary Rath Knife which she treasured. "This is the Rath Knife."

"Oh yeah?" said the policeman, unimpressed.

Tracy suddenly struck out the knife into the policeman's face, the handle hitting him so hard that he was knocked to the ground.

"Now do you believe me?" Tracy demanded, as everyone else in the room watched in shock. The policeman didn't realise what happened; he was stunned, and he looked up at the young woman.

"I thought so," said Tracy, smiling.

**Well that's it! All 39 Chapters of Horrors At Cranning House. Hope you have a good year 2013. Any questions about this fic, then PM me. :) And don't forget to review.**


End file.
